Dragon Ball Z: Future of the Saiyans
by Sai the Super Saiyan
Summary: When a mysterious creature attacks Earth, Vegeta wishes a small group of Saiyans back to life to aid the Z-Fighters. But what happens when the creature can possess others, and what will happen when it possesses Goku? A/N: Newly updated and even better than before!
1. Chapter 1

The Saiyans clustered around and behind their king, who was looking at their adversaries. He had an expression of worry plastered on his face. There was about to be a huge fight, everyone in Hell could sense it. A battle that involved the monkey-like warriors was extremely rare, as nobody dared to challenge them; they were just too strong. Unfortunately for them, their current adversary – or, rather, _adversaries_ – was much stronger than all of the Saiyans combined.

A scowl lit up King Vegeta's face as he met the eyes of the Changeling who had controlled his people for so long. The Changeling had a smirk on his face, one that irritated King Vegeta more than it really should have. Frieza was one that pestered all Saiyans immensely, simply because they all knew that Frieza was nigh unbeatable to them. They all despised Frieza, and King Vegeta was aware that there were five Saiyans in particular – a band of low-classes – that wanted Frieza to be torn limb from limb… preferably at their hands.

King Vegeta scowled. "So, Frieza, you are not content with ruling us solely in life. You want to rule us in death, as well?" he hissed, the name of the Changeling figuratively burning his tongue. Frieza smiled cruelly. King Vegeta surveyed the people with Frieza, seeing two people that were familiar; Zarbon and Dodoria, Frieza's best henchman. There was also the famed Ginyu Force, and Frieza's brother and father, Cooler and King Cold. Behind them, however, was the one that bothered King Vegeta immensely. It was the horrible, man-bug thing standing just behind the Saiyans' familiar adversaries.

Frieza's tail swayed gently. "Well, somebody has to rein the animals in," he said calmly, in his posh, aristocratic voice. The Saiyans' foes began to laugh, clearly hoping to rile the Saiyans up. It worked. Fury reared its ugly head within their hearts, and some of them even stepped forwards. King Vegeta observed them.

"Stop. There's no point," he ordered, even though he felt like launching himself at the megalomaniac. He felt like choking Frieza, or possibly ripping the stupid Changeling's head off… not like it would do much good. Being dead already, there was no way to kill Frieza again… but then again, that would mean that Frieza would cease to be completely. King Vegeta smirked for a brief second before going back to business.

Cooler strode up to Frieza and smirked as he looked down at the younger Changeling. Cooler's dark purple skin was a harsh contrast to Frieza's pure white skin, but the Saiyans didn't really care about that.

"Careful, little brother," Cooler warned, not bothering to lower his voice; he wanted the Saiyans to hear his harsh, joking words. "We don't want any more Super Saiyans on our hands now, do we?" The way he said 'Super Saiyans' sounded like he was mocking the Saiyans' legends. Which, they all realised, was _exactly_ what he was doing.

"You son of a bitch," Nappa hissed, stepping forward. King Vegeta grabbed the Saiyan general's arm tightly, causing Nappa to look back at King Vegeta, confused. The Saiyan king shook his head, and Nappa – after shooting a poisonous glare at the enemies amassed before them – turned on his heel and walked back so that he was standing just behind the king.

The younger cold-blooded tyrant smirked. "They won't be able to achieve Super Saiyan," he mocked, "They're simply nothing more than brainless animals." That comment nearly made Nappa snap again, and he took another step forward. King Vegeta focussed his dark eyes on the brutish warrior, and Nappa huffed as he turned away from the Saiyans' adversaries. They all started laughing, and King Vegeta growled. "Look at that! The Saiyan king does little to stop me from insulting his _precious pride_," Frieza mocked again. The way he said 'precious pride' so very nearly made King Vegeta snap, but – like always – King Vegeta reined his wild emotions in. It would definitely not do to get angry now. A Saiyan's anger, while providing them with more battle power, clouded their judgement, and King Vegeta knew he needed a clear head if he were to get rid of these guys.

"Shut up, you impudent worm…" King Vegeta hissed as Frieza and the others continued to mock them. The Saiyans' adversaries stopped their mocking, shocked, and then began hooting with laughter. King Vegeta's anger snapped, and he roared as he rushed forward and smashed Frieza in the face with a hard punch to the jaw. He also caught Cooler off guard by kicking the purple-skinned Changeling in the stomach, hard. Cooler collapsed to the ground, winded.

In retaliation, the man-bug thing tried to stab King Vegeta with its tail, but King Vegeta saw the movement and moved his head to the side just as the stinger at the end of the creature's tail stabbed right where his eye had been a second ago. The creature hissed as he continually tried to stab the Saiyan king, but his attempts bore no fruit.

"Stop, Cell," Frieza grunted, clicking his jaw back into place before smirking nastily at the Saiyan king, who'd jumped back to his subjects. Cell hissed in defeat, but said nothing as he turned his head and refused to even look at the king. Frieza smacked his tail against the ground as he angrily looked at the Saiyans. They'd formed a shield in front of their king, and each one had their teeth bared, showing teeth reminiscent of their Oozaru forms' sharp teeth. "You have no hope of defeating us, _worms_," Frieza hissed, making the other enemies laugh again.

Suddenly, a few warriors in the army began to glow, King Vegeta and Nappa among them. Both Saiyans panicked as they started to fade, and the Saiyans and their adversaries all looked at the fading, glowing warriors, more than just a bit confused.

"H-help me!" King Vegeta cried, seconds before he disappeared into nothingness. Nappa panicked as he too disappeared, and a Saiyan cried out as a few more warriors – Bardock, his team, and his son – also vanished. Everyone's eyes widened as no more Saiyans disappeared.

Frieza blinked before looking at his older brother. "What… just happened?" he murmured. Cooler shrugged, not know what had happened.

What had just happened?


	2. Chapter 2

Vegeta stood in front of the Eternal Dragon, Shenron, worried beyond measure. He was hoping that he was far enough from everyone else; the Z-Fighters would certainly not agree with his plan. But the Saiyan prince had no choice to bring back a few of the Saiyans, if he wanted to save everyone he loved. He would never admit that he was doing this for them, however; he would lie and say otherwise.

"YOUR WISH HAS BEEN GRANTED," Shenron boomed, as his eyes glowed a mysterious, eerie red. A strangle light appeared in front of Vegeta, and figures began to emerge from within it. Vegeta squinted; the light was bright and it was hard for the Saiyan prince to see. Shenron departed by flying into the sky, and the Dragon Balls followed him. Shenron glowed once and disappeared, and the Dragon Balls scattered, flying off in different directions from each other. Vegeta then turned to look at the eight shocked Saiyans standing before him.

"Welcome back," he said, smiling as he observed them. They were now giving him strange looks, and it made him want to laugh, but he suppressed that. Bowing slightly to his stunned father, he said, "I understand that you are all confused. I best explain, yes?" King Vegeta scowled at his oldest son.

"You even have to ask?! Of course you have to explain. Now!" King Vegeta roared, but Vegeta didn't flinch, unlike when he'd been young. Vegeta was no longer scared of his father; being much stronger, Vegeta had no doubt in his mind that he could defeat the Saiyan king in battle. King Vegeta's palm suddenly began to glow pinkish-purple, and Vegeta panicked. "I will kill you, Vegeta, if you don't explain," the angry Saiyan king growled. Suddenly, Bardock stepped forward. Bardock was a dead ringer for his youngest cub, Kakarot, except Bardock had tanned skin, a colder look to his face, and a ragged scar on his cheek. "Bardock, what the hell do you think you're doing?" King Vegeta hissed.

Bardock looked King Vegeta calmly in the eye. "Stopping you from losing your temper," he said simply. The small group was shocked at Bardock's simplicity, and it bothered King Vegeta when he realised that Bardock indeed _could_ stop him from losing his temper. There had been a difference in Bardock ever since he'd come from what he called a 'shittier version of Planet Vegeta.' King Vegeta could sense that Bardock had done what most Saiyans trained their whole lives to achieve.

Vegeta suddenly walked over to the small group of Saiyans. "I – no, we – need your help. There is something here on Earth that is impossible for us to defeat," Vegeta said. King Vegeta was uncomfortable with his son's proximity, but he didn't get the chance to say anything as Bardock spoke.

"We? Sir, not to be rude, but you are the only one around, save for us," he said, frowning and looking around. Vegeta sighed.

"I am alone at the present time. The others, the ones that need help as well… they would not agree with my actions," he said, gesturing at the small group. The Saiyans shared a look, not understanding what their prince meant by that. Vegeta realised this and shook his head, knowing that he needed to explain a bit more. "After all of the things that have happened at Saiyan hands, it is understandable that the Z-Fighters don't trust us. Kakarot doesn't even trust his older brother, and I still haven't got everyone's trust." Raditz, who was standing close to Bardock's team, flinched when he heard the name of his little brother.

Vegeta began to explain everything to the small group of Saiyans, and they listened carefully. They began to understand the weight behind Vegeta's decision, and why the Z-Fighters didn't trust them. When Vegeta explained that Kakarot was the strongest thing in the universe – save for Bills and Whis – King Vegeta felt cold… especially when the Saiyans realised that not even Kakarot could defeat this adversary.

"So, if a Super Saiyan can't even beat this thing… What do you expect us to be able to do?" Fasha, Bardock's only female teammate, complained. Vegeta shook his head.

"I said Super Saiyan 3, and that's saying something. Kakarot is insanely strong as a Super Saiyan 3, but not even Super Gogeta could beat that thing," Vegeta elaborated. King Vegeta was mulling over what his son had said, confused. There had to be a way to defeat the creature everyone was struggling with… However, before he could say anything, Raditz stepped forward.

"Who's Gogeta?" he asked curiously. Vegeta face-palmed; how could he have forgotten to explain Gogeta?

"Gogeta is, well…" Vegeta trailed off, unsure of how to explain. Nervously, Vegeta's eyes flicked around, but King Vegeta picked up on the nervousness.

"Continue," he said, sounding both angry and wary at the same time. Vegeta swallowed his nervousness.

Gogeta is… the fusion between Kakarot and I," he finally managed to choke out. The group of Saiyans all took in a sharp breath, and Bardock went pale in horror. Raditz and King Vegeta were stunned silent.

As soon as King Vegeta regained his composure, he scowled. "FUSE?! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN, FUSE?!" he roared angrily. Vegeta flinched away, and Bardock grabbed the king's shoulder, but King Vegeta simply shook the low-class Saiyan off. He was far too angry to be stopped that way.

"I mean we combine to form one warrior that is stronger than the both of us on our own," Vegeta hastily explained, trying to remain calm. Horrified, he sensed that King Vegeta's power level was climbing due to the king's fury. Bardock's was rising too, simply because he couldn't keep King Vegeta in check. "Keep your power levels down," Vegeta hissed worriedly. Nappa shot the prince a sour look. The brutish Saiyan still disliked Vegeta because of their time on Earth.

"Why is that an issue, of all things?" Bardock scowled as he tried to restrain the king.

"I – as well as most of the Z-Fighters – can sense power levels without using a scouter," Vegeta explained, gesturing to Tora, who had a scouter on his face. The group stared in wonder at their prince. They couldn't believe that he was the same person, the same little boy who'd been taken from them at the delicate age of five. It didn't seem likely, simply because Vegeta had changed.

A lot.

Abruptly, Bardock was nearly struck with a ki blast, and the Saiyans looked up to see a man with unkempt hair – just like Bardock's – floating above them. Vegeta recognised him because of his clothing; the orange gi was a dead giveaway to the identity of the stranger. Vegeta knew that he was in trouble now; if anyone hated Vegeta's idea, it was Goku.

"Vegeta! I can't believe this!" he yelled, and the Saiyans flinched. The man's voice had a Saiyan edge to it, but other than that, you wouldn't have been able to tell that he was a Saiyan. The man in the orange gi landed then, and observed the Saiyans. The small group had surrounded the king, determined to protect him, but Raditz had taken a step backwards. Goku looked back at Vegeta and narrowed his eyes. "Explain now!" he demanded. Vegeta paled.

This was getting worse and worse by the minute.


	3. Chapter 3

Vegeta and Goku stood opposite each other, staring into the other's eyes. Fury glinted within Goku's – something that didn't happen very often – while horror and shock could be seen in Vegeta's dark eyes. A ki blast was charged and ready to be fired in Goku's hand, but Vegeta knew he had at least a little time to explain before Goku went on the offensive. That was Goku's way. Or, rather, he'd mistakenly thought that; Goku suddenly and immediately fired the ki blast. Vegeta didn't even have time to dodge, although he most certainly tried to.

"Argh!" the Saiyan prince cried as the ki blast slammed into his chest and exploded. Vegeta collapsed to the ground, absolutely agonised, and King Vegeta gasped in horror as Vegeta groaned and twitched. The normally naïve Saiyan simply stood by… but there was an abrupt demeanour change, and Goku's face switched from one of cold cruelty to one of concern. Raditz eyed his brother carefully as Vegeta managed to croak out, "If… you were… trying to kill me… you nearly… succeeded," as he coughed up blood.

"Vegeta, are you alright?" Goku cried, running over and kneeling next to Vegeta. The Saiyans took a few steps backwards, confused and not knowing what to do in the case of this seemingly volatile and unpredictable Saiyan. Vegeta continued to choke on his own blood. On the outside, Goku seemed to be caring, and he had plastered on a fake concern. But inside, he was grateful that'd he'd hit Vegeta.

"Stupid… question… Kakarot," Vegeta gasped, and then collapsed. Goku frowned down at his friendly rival, and then looked up at the Saiyans with the same frown on his face. The group of Saiyans flinched. They didn't want to deal with the world's strongest fighter.

"Can any of you help Vegeta?" he asked, nearly tearing up for extra effect. He really didn't care, but he needed to play it up. Bardock stepped forward, even though everyone tried to stop him. Goku thanked him silently as he backed off, so Bardock would have some piece of mind and some space.

"How is it that you are Saiyan, yet you don't know how to help your prince?" Fasha asked, earning her a sour look from Bardock. She ignored it and focussed on Goku, her violet eyes flashing dangerously. Goku shrugged.

"I don't really remember much; I hit my head as a kid and lost my memory," he explained. The 'got hit on the head' excuse was all he had, and Fasha frowned. However, she didn't get the chance to say anything else. A huge blue energy wave – the Kamehameha Wave – blasted the ground nearby to the Saiyan king. The group of Saiyans yelled and dragged their shocked king away from the blast, and everyone (save for Vegeta, who was still unconscious) looked up. Goku's eyes widened in horror. The rest of the Z-Fighters had arrived, and Raditz didn't miss his brother's step backwards.

"What's going on here?" Trunks and Goten – the eight- and seven-year-old boys – shouted as one. Goku took another step backwards as the Z-Fighters landed. The group of Saiyans became guarded, especially Raditz, who noticed that Goten looked very much like Goku and Bardock.

"I, uh…" Goku sounded uncertain as he spoke. He knew that his ruse was going to desert him at any minute. Suddenly, everyone heard Trunks cry out.

"Dad!" he cried as he – rather humorously – shoved Bardock into the group of Saiyans and away from Vegeta's body. Bardock stumbled and fell, smashing his head on a rock, and his teammates helped him up as he rubbed his head. King Vegeta stared at Trunks, shocked. He hadn't missed what the boy had said.

Suddenly, Gohan – Raditz remembered his nephew, even though he was a lot older and looked different to the snivelling four-year-old he'd once been – frowned as he stepped towards Goku. There was something troubling him, and it soon became clear to everyone. Even Trunks, who was preoccupied with Vegeta, noticed, and he stood up as well.

"Dad wouldn't just attack Vegeta for no reason," Gohan angrily said. Goku looked at his son, shocked. "You can't be my father; Dad would listen to an explanation first," Gohan hissed. Goku panicked briefly, before he decided to drop the ruse. His panicked expression gave way to an evil smirk that seemed downright _wrong_ on Goku's face. Everyone flinched. This was not Goku; this was something else, something far worse.

"Ka…," Gohan positioned himself with his hands cupped to his side, "Me…," a blue energy sphere began to form in his hand, "Ha…," the blue energy sphere began to grow, "Me… HA!" Gohan suddenly expelled the ball away from him, and it formed a huge blue energy wave that was flying straight for Goku. While the impersonator dodged, it just missed, and Gohan's eyes flashed, as he knew that his father would have been able to dodge that easily. That simple fact made him resolve to defeat the doppelganger… if they could. After all, they'd been trying to defeat this thing for ages. The rest of the Z-Fighters went on the offensive too, trying to take down the impersonator. "Hey! You with the cape!" Gohan suddenly yelled at King Vegeta, getting the Saiyan's attention. "Protect Vegeta; we need him to explain what the hell is going on, and he's gonna help us find my father!" With that, Gohan attacked the doppelganger, and King Vegeta mutely complied. Nappa grunted and looked away. It would take him a long time to ever trust the prince again.

Suddenly, another Kamehameha Wave blasted the doppelganger of the world's saviour, but it wasn't Gohan's, Goten's, Trunks', Yamcha's or Krillin's. Surprised, everyone looked up to see another man in an orange gi… but this time, everyone knew that this Goku was the real thing, the original one. He seemed angry as he landed and looked over at Vegeta's unconscious form, and then he rushed towards the doppelganger with the intent to defeat it.

"Dad, you made it!" Gohan cried happily as Goku began to beat the sense out of his opponent. Raditz saw that Goku had the opportunity to kill his opponent, but as the young Saiyan warrior refrained, the other Saiyans realised that Goku was merciful and un-Saiyan-like. The doppelganger got up, but knew that it was no match for Goku, who fixed it with an icy look as it flew off, defeated. The Saiyans moved to follow it, but an order from King Vegeta made them stop in their tracks.

"How's he doing, Trunks?" Goku asked as he walked over to Vegeta. Trunks sighed sadly, which appeared to give Goku his answer, and he nodded before looking up again at the Saiyans. He stepped towards them, only to have King Vegeta bare his teeth and snarl as he prepared to attack. Goku stopped. "I'm sorry for whatever that impersonator did. I'm not going to hurt you," he explained. The Saiyans didn't relax, and Goku sighed. "I just want to know why Vegeta brought you back to life; I assume there is importance in the decision," he said, "I was almost ready to consider this myself." Goku's words surprised Raditz and Bardock greatly.

"Uh, well, Vegeta said that there is something here that you can't defeat," Bardock said, keeping his guard up. Goku nodded, but said nothing else as he pulled a little brown pouch from his pocket and opened it, taking a little green bean from it. Leaning down next to Vegeta, Goku placed the little bean in the Saiyan prince's mouth, alarming most of the small group. Nappa muttered something unintelligible.

"Vegeta, can you hear me?" Goku said, and Vegeta groaned. "You need to eat the Senzu Bean," Goku urged, and a few minutes later, Vegeta was standing, with no pain whatsoever, even though the ki blast he'd received had very nearly killed him. The Saiyans stared, and King Vegeta stumbled. He was shocked beyond the limits of shock. It was impossible.

"What the hell did you feed him?" Fasha demanded angrily. Goku looked at her, shocked.

"A Senzu Bean! They help!" he cried as Fasha stared angrily at him, her violet eyes boring into his soul. She looked way after a moment and huffed.

Before anything else could be said, however, the ground began to shake violently, causing everyone to stumble and lose their footing. Everyone began to float in the air, and they all looked around carefully. Goku looked around, looking for any sign of the cause of the earthquake. But it was Tora who found it first.

Mainly because he crashed to the ground, unconscious, after being attacked.


	4. Chapter 4

Bardock roared in anger as he watched Tora fall to the ground. It didn't – and never would – sit right with him. He absolutely _hated_ watching his friends and family get hurt, and as far as he was concerned, it was even more so with Tora. After all, the two had grown up together, had played together, and had fought together. Fasha felt the same way; she'd grown up with the two men as well. Bardock angrily looked for the culprit, and as he looked up, he saw what could only be described as a monster – hideous and grotesque – standing on the ground just behind where Tora had been floating. It was tall, so much so that it was eye level with Raditz, who was floating just higher than the other Saiyans and the Z-Fighters.

"Oh no, it's back!" Goku cried, moving to the left as a Mouth Blast was fired at him, in an effort to kill the clownish Saiyan. Unfortunately, the Mouth Blast struck Gohan, and the scholarly warrior fell to the ground and collapsed next to Tora, defeated and very much unconscious. This act enraged Goku, but he refrained from becoming a Super Saiyan. He didn't want to use up his energy reserves too quickly, otherwise he knew that he would die. Unfortunately, Vegeta had no such regards and, as he transformed, he rushed forward. Vegeta was intelligent; he must have known that doing this would probably end in his defeat and possible death. Trunks watched his father struggle against the monster, horrified.

"Dad, don't do it!" Trunks cried, but his pleas fell on deaf ears as Vegeta continued to struggle against the creature. He was getting more and more injured, and as he took a particularly nasty blow to the chest, King Vegeta felt anger surge up in him, and he roared as he rushed forward, following Vegeta's example and not sparing a thought for his own life, even though he was the king of the entire Saiyan race.

"Father!" Vegeta suddenly cried, making King Vegeta stop in his tracks as he met with his son's dark eyes. "Stay back!" Turning to Goku, he said, "You, Kakarot, need to go as well, and get Gohan and Tora to safety!" There was no question in Goku or King Vegeta's mind that it was an order, yet Goku felt that he could not comply.

"I won't leave you here to die!" he yelled. Vegeta, who had resumed his fight against the creature, was distracted momentarily as he prepared to force Goku to leave. This proved to be disastrous for the Saiyan prince. The creature axe-handled Vegeta's back, propelling him into the ground. There was a horribly loud snap, and Vegeta's suddenly twitched, his eyes going wide. His black pupils took on a blank look as they glazed over, and his Super Saiyan transformation wore off as his hair went from gold to black. Goku stared in horror as Vegeta twitched a few more times, and then stilled as he took a final, gasping breath. "NO!" Goku screamed, running over to Vegeta's unmoving form and falling to his knees, checking for any sign that Vegeta was still alive.

King Vegeta, now enraged even more because of the death of his son, continued his barbaric onslaught on the creature. However, it proved ineffective against the creature, which proceeded to flick King Vegeta into the small group of Saiyans. Nappa caught the king and growled at the creature. All of the warriors – Z-Fighter and Saiyan alike – knew what they had to do now. They quickly gathered their unconscious and dead allies and, as one, they all flew away from the creature. It roared, but didn't move after them.

It allowed them to escape, which was definitely a stupid move…

Or was it?


	5. Chapter 5

Goku looked at the fallen Saiyan prince that he was carrying in his arms as he flew. He just couldn't bring himself to believe that Vegeta had been killed by the very creature the Z-Fighters had fought for so long. Not to mention that it had allowed them to escape afterward, almost as if it had some ulterior motive. Looking around, he observed Bardock carrying his unconscious comrade, Tora, and he saw that Goten and Trunks were flying with Gohan between them, although they did seem to be struggling. Goku looked back down at Vegeta's limp form and cursed silently. He felt horrible, like Gohan and Tora's injuries were his fault, as was Vegeta's demise.

"Hey, kid!" Fasha called as she flew closer to Goku so that she was right next to him. He looked at her quizzically, and while her violet eyes were focussed in front of her, it was clear that the female wanted to talk to Goku about something. "How come you seemed to be holding back in that battle back there?" she asked, her voice taking on a sour edge. Goku shivered. "His Highness might not be dead if you'd stepped in!" she angrily hissed. Goku frowned, a surge of guilt washing through him, and he looked down at Vegeta.

"I knew that it was pointless to attack, even if I had unleashed my full power," Goku paused, "But… you're probably right." Fasha took her eyes off the horizon to fix Goku with her gaze. He shook his head. "Vegeta might not be dead. I would have been, though," he said sadly. Fasha frowned, but said nothing more as she flew back over to Bardock and spoke silently with him. Her place was quickly filled by Goten, Trunks, and the unconscious Gohan. Goten looked like he was straining, and Trunks even more so. They were both perilously close to dropping Gohan. Goku looked over at them and cocked his head to the side.

"Daddy, can we land? My arms are getting sore!" Goten complained. Goku sighed, but told everyone else that it was time to land. Almost immediately, the Saiyans performed a steep dive, one that Goku and the others found incredibly difficult to follow. It ended with the Saiyans landing perfectly, Goku, Goten and Trunks landing safely, but Krillin, Yamcha and Chiaotzu crash-landed and Piccolo and Tien nearly fell over onto their backsides.

That was when King Vegeta turned to Goku. He had on his face an expression of anger, hatred and malice as the younger Saiyan gently laid Vegeta's body in the grass. The other Saiyans didn't know what to think of this act of kindness. They were feeling a mix of shock, hurt, grief, anger and, in Nappa's case at the very least, happiness. King Vegeta growled, getting Goku's attention.

"Why the hell didn't you do _anything_?!" King Vegeta roared, "He's your prince!" Goku was absolutely taken aback. He had no idea what he'd done wrong. "You're a fucking imbecile!" King Vegeta screamed, furious, "I'm going to rip you apart!" Bardock, realising that the situation was getting out of hand, handed Tora's limp body to Shugesh and Borgos, and then walked over and grabbed the king's arm gently, trying to stop the angry Saiyan from doing anything rash. When that didn't work, Bardock grimaced as he twisted King Vegeta's arm sharply, causing the man to cry, "Yowch!" as he jerked his arm out from Bardock's grip. Looking down at the low-class Saiyan, King Vegeta saw a scowl on the otherwise calm man's face.

"Don't you dare threaten my son like that," Bardock said, his voice low and dangerous. Gesturing to King Vegeta's arm, he said, "Or I _will_ do a lot worse than _that_." Goku froze as he heard Bardock's words. Bardock, who noticed the change, looked over at Goku and frowned, confused. "What?" he asked, "What did I say?"

"Father, I don't think that Kakarot ever expected to meet you," Raditz said, striding over so that he stood next to Bardock. Nothing else was said as a sudden ringing sound pierced the silence of the clearing, and everyone looked around before Trunks walked over to Vegeta's corpse. Kneeling down, Trunks began to search his father's pockets (he wasn't wearing his normal attire) as he looked for the source of the ringing. Finally, he pulled out a cell phone and stood, looking at the caller I.D. Abruptly, he went pale, and he swallowed fearfully before accepting the call and putting the phone to his ear.

"Hello Mum," he said, trying to keep his fear from penetrating his voice. It didn't work. "Uh, Dad can't come to the phone right now…" Trunks lied. Something was said on the other end, and Trunks – if possible – went paler. "Nothing bad has happened… I'm not lying, Mum!" Trunks protested, but nobody was fooled. King Vegeta rolled his eyes at his grandson – he still was coming to terms with the fact that he had a grandchild at all – while Trunks continued his amusing conversation with his mum. "Mum, we'll be home later," Trunks promised, "Don't worry, we'll be fine…" He trailed off as something else was said, then shook his head as he said, "I know, Mum! Alright, bye!" Trunks cut off the call and breathing a sigh of relief as Goku snickered.

"I wouldn't do that, Trunks," Piccolo said as he strode over to the young half-Saiyan. "Now we've gotta figure out a way to bring Vegeta back by tonight." Raditz froze and went as white as a sheet. This got the attention of the nearby Saiyans. Bardock's eyebrow rose.

"Hey, what's up, kid?" Borgos asked, prodding Raditz in the shoulder, but he got no response. Bardock suddenly guessed what was wrong; Piccolo was the Namekian who'd killed Raditz and Goku. Snarling, Bardock took a step towards the unaware Namek, but he was restrained by his team and Nappa. None of them wanted Bardock to kill unless it was absolutely necessary. Right now, the Saiyans needed to gain the trust of the Earth's Special Forces.

"GOKU!"

It was quite possible that the yell could have been heard for miles. Goku went pale, and Raditz would have felt like snickering if it weren't for the fact that Piccolo was standing close by and that all of the Z-Fighters went pale. They all looked completely terrified. Swallowing nervously, Goku turned and looked towards the trees. Everyone followed his gaze to see a woman standing there. Her black hair was tied into a bun, and she could have very easily passed as a Saiyan woman. She also looked absolutely furious, and no wonder; she could definitely see the group of Saiyans standing behind Goku and the Z-Fighters.

Storming up to Goku, she screamed, "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?! YOU BETTER EXPLAIN RIGHT NOW!" Goku tried to find words, but they were lost on him. The woman's hatred of Saiyans was evident – she thought them little more than monsters – and Goku was getting more and more flustered with each passing minute.

"Well, uh, Chi-Chi…" Goku stuttered, "I, uh, don't really know the full story, but…" Goku trailed off as Chi-Chi glared at him. Scratching the back of his head, "I think, uh, Vegeta brought them back to, um, help us out?" Goku was clearly flustered, and he began to look panicked. Chi-Chi looked angry, like she was about to snap… but then she calmed down and took on a serene composure, which only made Goku all the more wary. "Chi-Chi?" he dared venture.

"Hmph," Chi-Chi snorted, "Well, that's okay then." Her reaction was not expected by Goku… and neither was what she said next, "That gives me a good chance to say something, Goku…"


	6. Chapter 6

"WHAT?!" everyone cried as Chi-Chi told them all what she'd been thinking. Goku stared at his human mate, absolutely dumbfounded. He couldn't bring himself to believe that this was actually happening. He didn't want to believe it, either. There was no way his Chi-Chi could have possibly aid that… right?

"But… but… Chi-Chi!" Goku whined. Chi-Chi fixed him with a cold glare. "I can't go with them!" Goku cried, "What if… what if they kill me or something?" even though he was certain none of the small group would… or could, for that matter (although he didn't know of King Vegeta's Execution Beam). Goku also knew that if he couldn't defeat the Saiyans for whatever reason, Bardock would step in and deal with it – even though Goku was still a bit shocked that Bardock was his father. The Saiyans were also quite adverse to Chi-Chi's plan. King Vegeta, Nappa and most of Bardock's team thought that Goku was an absolute clown and far too kind to be Saiyan. Raditz was opposed to it for personal reasons; he feared Goku's power immensely and he was guilt ridden over what he'd done. Bardock didn't mind.

"You're going, Goku," Chi-Chi said simply. Goku felt his mood drop into a deep, dark hole. This wasn't what he wanted to do, not at all; he wanted – no, _needed_ – to go to New Namek and gather the Dragon Balls. Gathering the Earth's ones would do no good, as Shenron would not revive Vegeta again. It helped that Vegeta had died an unnatural death; Porunga would definitely grant the wish.

"But I have other things to do!" Goku protested. Chi-Chi looked angrily at her husband, and he flinched, much to Bardock's amusement. "I have to go to New Namek immediately!" Goku exclaimed, gesturing at Vegeta's corpse. Chi-Chi briefly looked at it before fixing her husband with a steely glare.

"Just so you can go collect those silly Dragon Balls again?" Chi-Chi asked angrily. She shook her head. "No. Vegeta can stay dead this time," she said, apparently forgetting that there was a group of Saiyans standing nearby and that Vegeta was, by blood, the crown prince of the Saiyans.

King Vegeta twitched. "How… How fucking dare you speak of my son like he is nothing?!" King Vegeta roared. He tried to jump forward and choke the life from Chi-Chi, but found himself being restrained by the others as Chi-Chi cringed behind her husband, terrified of the angry Saiyan king. They managed to stop his attack for ten seconds, until he proved that he could break free. He began his furious assault again. Bardock moved like lightning then and suddenly…

King Vegeta was socked in the face by a Super Saiyan.

This startling new revelation shocked everyone. Goku felt his jaw drop, and the Z-Fighters took a few steps backwards. The Saiyans stared. They'd all presumed that he could do it, and he'd proved to them that he was indeed able to. Goten shook his head. He'd believed that only his dad, Vegeta, Trunks, himself and Gohan could go Super Saiyan…

But apparently, he'd been dead wrong.


	7. Chapter 7

"That guy is a _Super Saiyan_?!" Krillin choked out as King Vegeta collapsed to the ground with a bloodied nose. He stared up at the low-class as Bardock strode towards him, bewildered. Bardock stopped moving towards the king and looked over at Krillin.

"Yes, I am a Super Saiyan," he said as he turned his eyes back to the king. Raditz felt terror course through him, and he knew it was because of his father. He just didn't know why. In his heart, Raditz _knew_ that Bardock was still the same man he'd known all of his life, if just a bit more violent as a Super Saiyan… so why was he so scared? It didn't make sense!

"Well, as you know, both Goku and Vegeta can transform," Piccolo stated. Bardock nodded as Piccolo continued, "But so can Gohan, Goten, and Trunks. This revelation shocked the old warrior, who looked down at his two grandsons and at Trunks. He couldn't believe that the three Saiyan hybrids were capable of something that was supposed to be unique to pure-blood Saiyans. Hell, the only Saiyans in the entire Saiyan army that could transform into Super Saiyans were Bardock and Broly, who was back in Hell.

"So the half-castes can do what most of the Saiyans cannot?" Nappa growled venomously. Raditz looked at his comrade, shocked by Nappa's use of the derogatory term that he described the half-Saiyans as. Raditz stopped himself from saying anything else as Bardock turned to Goku and half-smiled.

"I have a proposition for you, son." His words confused everyone, especially Goku. They all wondered what he was going to say, and they waited with bated breath as he inhaled a deep breath. "Now, ma'am," he turned to Chi-Chi, "I understand that you don't agree, but I would like Kakarot to head to this 'New Namek' as soon as physically possible," Bardock said, and Chi-Chi's face went red with anger, almost as if she'd explode with sheer fury! But then, Bardock raised his hand, stopping her from speaking. "I haven't finished yet," he turned to his eldest son, and Raditz looked at his father, confused, "This is coming to come as a huge shock. But I want you, Raditz, to go with your little brother."

"WHAT?!" Raditz exclaimed. Bardock, still in his Super Saiyan state, flinched, while Goku stared at Bardock, half-horrified and half-accepting. "Dad, no! Are you insane?!" Raditz asked, a mixture of fury, fear, and sadness flowing through his veins. Bardock shook his head, and Raditz silently fought to stop himself from breaking down and crying.

"Raditz, I'm not insane. Every word I say, I mean. I want you to accompany Kakarot to New Namek. And I want you both to leave as soon as possible." Bardock's tone left no room for argument, but Raditz still tried.

"But… Dad… I…"

"Geez, just listen to your dad, okay?" Tora gasped. Everyone looked over at him to see that he had struggled to his feet. Fasha went over to support him as he said, "That guy will get his way with you eventually, and although you're his son, he'll beat you within an inch of your life if you don't comply." He shook his head. He felt terrible, like he'd been dipped in a vat of hydrofluoric acid, and Bardock's face became a mask of concern for the health of his best friend. He had to agree with Tora, however.

Raditz shook his head. "But… Tora… I just… _can't_…" He looked down at his feet, fighting to blink back tears. Everyone began to wonder why, and Goku took a tentative step towards his older brother, who didn't appear to notice Goku's concern as he spoke. "I can't, Dad," he said, tearfully looking up at his father, who looked shocked. Raditz's head fell again, so he was looking at the ground again. "I can't go with him. It hurts to even _see_ him…," Raditz whimpered. The small group of Saiyans shared a look, but Bardock walked over to his son and grabbed his son's shoulder. Raditz looked up sadly.

"Raditz, my son… Are you alright?" he asked tentatively, and Raditz shook his head. Nappa looked at his younger comrade, concerned. "Do you want to tell me?" Bardock asked.

"I just… I feel… _horrible_," Raditz admitted, each word paining him. "What I did… to Kakarot and Gohan… I just…" Raditz choked on his words then. It was painful – horribly so – to confess what he had done, but at the same time… Raditz felt like a huge pressure had been lifted from his shoulders.

"Um… Raditz?" Goku asked suddenly. The Z-Fighters and Saiyans all looked at the young Earth-raised Saiyan to see that he was nervous and sad. He was looking down at his feet, and he kicked the dirt as he said, "Please don't be sad. It's okay for you to come with me." Goku smiled at his now-shocked brother. "I don't mind; I forgive you. I'd be glad for your company." The words were true and honest, and everyone could tell.

"What?" Raditz said in his shocked state. Goku's smile widened as he tentatively stepped forward until he was standing only feet away from his older brother, Bardock moving to the side as Goku did so.

"I forgive you, Raditz," he repeated as he extended his hand towards Raditz. Raditz stared at it for a few seconds, before hesitantly reaching to take it.

That was when the Earth exploded beneath their feet.


	8. Chapter 8

"Argh!" Goku cried as he was flung into the air. The Saiyans and Z-Fighters had just managed to dodge the explosion, even though Goten was having major problems staying in the air, as he'd grabbed both Chi-Chi and Gohan, and was carrying them on his own. Fasha was supporting Tora, and King Vegeta, who'd grabbed Vegeta's corpse, had gained a bruise on his cheek, and while it wasn't paining him, he was annoyed that he'd gotten wounded by little more than a pebble.

"Shit!" Raditz cursed as he and Bardock flew next to each other. Bardock was still Super Saiyan, and he looked around at the surrounding area, shocked. He was looking for the cause of the explosion, simply because he _knew_ that something like that shouldn't have happened. Planets didn't explode like that under one's feet unless there was something underground or there was a problem with the planet's core.

Suddenly, an ear-splitting screech sounded throughout the area, and everyone covered their eyes in agonising pain. Piccolo, who was more susceptible to it as he had sensitive hearing, doubled over as he clutched his ears and tried to block out the horrible noise. It didn't work; there was only one thing he could do to block the noise, and he didn't want to even move his hands. Everyone was beginning to lose what little tolerance they had for the sound, and King Vegeta looked around as he began to lose his hearing. Then he realised what nobody else had; the noise was coming from the shattered Earth beneath them. Whatever was causing the noise had burrowed deep into the Earth's crust… and was coming after them.

"We have to get out of here," King Vegeta mused to himself as he shifted Vegeta's weight and held him underneath his arm. Nappa – who was floating nearby – just heard the king's words, and looked over at the royal quizzically. The look was seen by everyone, and Goku floated over to the Saiyan king, worried. King Vegeta looked up at the young Saiyan and frowned.

"Are you alright?" Goku asked before King Vegeta could say anything. King Vegeta sighed and nodded, but it was clear to everyone that Goku was sceptical about the king's words. King Vegeta rolled his eyes.

"I was just thinking about something," he said, and refused to say anything else on the matter. Goku fixed the king of his race with a funny glare, and King Vegeta sighed. "We just need to get somewhere safe," he mused. Goku nodded.

"I know a place," he said, and King Vegeta turned to him and raised an eyebrow, "It's in the sky, and I'm sure Goten and Trunks can take you there." Goku pointed in the direction of Kami's Lookout, and King Vegeta sighed. Bardock and Raditz glanced at each other, and shrugged. Goku looked determined as he dropped his hand. "I'll head to New Namek and collect the Dragon Balls so that Vegeta can be wished back," Goku said. King Vegeta stopped Goku in his tracks.

"Then what?" he asked. Goku grinned.

"Then I'll return and we'll discuss our next plan of action," he said cheerfully. His upbeat tone, however, had an undertone that allowed no room for arguments. King Vegeta sighed and conceded. Bardock flew over then, Raditz following. As he did, the Super Saiyan made sure that Fasha could support Tora properly. Satisfied, he turned his attention to his youngest son.

"Kakarot," he said, drawing Goku's attention, "How do you plan on getting there?" Bardock shook his head. "You have no spaceship!" he hissed. Raditz worriedly glanced at his father, while Goku's expression changed from a normal smile to a goofy grin, which showed his clownish side.

"Who needs a spaceship?" Goku said cheerfully, shrugging. Raditz frowned as he flew over to Goku and lightly tapped him on the shoulder. Goku turned to Raditz quizzically and asked, "What?"

"You can't possibly draw oxygen from space," he said, still a bit confused. Goku laughed as he patted Raditz on the arm.

"I can get us there in a flash, and I don't need to fly through space to do it," he said, trying to reassure his older brother, but Raditz shot Goku a sceptical look. Goku, seeing that Raditz didn't believe him one bit, grinned cheesily at the older Saiyan. "I can just use Instant Transmission!" he exclaimed excitedly. Grabbing Raditz's arm (which shocked the Saiyan), Goku placed two of his fingers to his forehead and teleported. King Vegeta's eyes nearly bugged out of his head, and the rest of the Saiyans floated there, shocked. Bardock was so shocked that his Super Saiyan transformation wore out, and his golden hair turned black again as it stopped sticking upwards and returned to its normal palm-tree style. His greenish eyes also returned to their normal black, and he tried to choke out words, but to no avail. The Z-Fighters simply stood (or, rather, floated) by, not shocked in the least, although Chi-Chi looked a bit mad.

"So what are we gonna do now?" Krillin asked then, but he didn't get an answer from anyone…


	9. Chapter 9

Raditz rubbed his arm as he stood on his rather shaky legs. A few seconds ago, he had been very unceremoniously dumped onto the ground, and while Goku had apologised, Raditz still felt bitter about it. Still, he couldn't believe the speed at which they'd moved; it had been faster than even the Attack Balls the Saiyans used, so much so that it was nearly equivalent to the speed of light!

Goku, who was walking around a bit, was frowning. He was certain that he and Raditz had landed on New Namek; he was perfectly attuned to the Namekians' energy signatures, as they were incredibly similar to Piccolo's and Dende's. The problem was that there was no sign of the Namekians… or anything, for that matter. There were no plants to be seen on the many hills, and the water didn't seem to be pure. The air also seemed very stagnant, and it was difficult to breathe properly. It was as if the planet was dying a slow, horrible, painful death. Shaking his head in confusion, Goku walked back over to Raditz, who'd clearly noticed the stagnant state of the air and water. The older Saiyan obviously knew that something was amiss, because his face was twisted into a mask of confusion.

"This planet… it is supposed to be very much like Earth, correct?" he asked his little brother. Goku nodded as Raditz looked over at an almost barren hilltop. Goku followed his gaze, and both Saiyans watched a singular tree withering and dying right in front of them. Goku felt horrified at seeing that, and Raditz clicked his tongue. "It seems so barren and lifeless here… There's definitely something wrong, I can feel it," the older of the two warriors muttered as he looked around. Suddenly he growled, and Goku looked curiously at him. "I wish I had my scouter; I'm totally useless without it," he grumbled. Goku sighed, loudly and deliberately, to earn Raditz's attention. It worked.

"You don't need a scouter," he said. Raditz raised an eyebrow, and Goku shook his head. "I can sense energy without using a scouter," he paused as he closed his eyes for a few minutes, "And I can tell that the Nameks are definitely here. They're suppressing their power, but…" Goku's eyes suddenly snapped open as he whipped around and searched the horizon. Raditz took a tentative step towards Goku, his hand outstretched as if to grab Goku's shoulder. Abruptly, Goku launched into the air and flew off without finishing whatever it was that he was going to say. After a few minutes of shocked hesitation, Raditz gave chase, catching up rather quickly. Goku was flying incredibly fast, but Raditz was the fastest flier in his family, according to Bardock (which only furthered the latter's opinion that Raditz was a freakish mutant).

"Kakarot!" Raditz called, trying to get his brother's attention, "Please tell me what is going on!" The younger warrior didn't answer, instead increasing his speed. Raditz did the exact same when he realised that Goku was past speaking. There was urgency in the young Saiyan's flight, and while Raditz had no idea why, he knew that Goku had detected something. Raditz was willing to go along with the younger Saiyan, as it was possibly one of the only things that he could do to redeem himself. Or, rather, he would have liked to believe that. He understood that it would be an impossible task. The only ones who didn't believe that were Bardock, Tora, and Fasha… and even then, Fasha only believed it because she liked to oppose Raditz's views, just to piss him off.

That was when an energy blast appeared from nowhere and flew through the air at lightning-fast speed. It slammed into Raditz's shoulder, the one that had been injured when he'd died, and he cried out in pain as he lost focus, causing him to plummet like a stone as he gripped his shoulder. Goku froze and watched as his brother fell, paralysed with shock and horror. He didn't stay paralysed for long; he snapped out of it and began to fly to his brother's aid, but his plan came to a screeching halt as an energy blast intercepted his path. Barely dodging, Goku looked around until his eyes settled on an island. Unfortunately, he couldn't see anything that could of fired an energy blast, Namekian or otherwise. That was when a splash emanated through the air then, and Goku looked down to where Raditz had fallen only to see ripples in the surface of the usually pristine ocean beneath them.

Raditz was gone.

"Raditz!" Goku cried as he flew down towards the surface of the ocean and hovered just before it. Keeping his guard up, he looked around, but he wasn't attacked again, so he dived into the sea in a desperate attempt to search for Raditz. Looking for any sign of Raditz, a few bubbles floated past his head, and he looked down to see an unconscious man lying on the sea floor. The long, spiky black hair gave the man's identity away, and Goku swam down and grabbed his older brother around the torso before swimming back up to the surface. _Raditz sure his heavy… must be all that hair,_ Goku mused as he struggled to the surface. His head then broke the glassy surface of the sea, and he spat out what he'd swallowed as he began to swim towards the island that he'd seen earlier. As he reached the shore, he pushed Raditz over the tiny ledge that just poked up from the water, climbed up himself, and dragged his unconscious brother further inland. He squatted down next to Raditz after he'd dragged him away from the water, and frowned as he saw that Raditz was not breathing, and he was lying very still. Beginning to panic, Goku quickly checked for a pulse, only to find that there was no pulse to be found. Horrified, Goku stood up, and detected an energy signature. It was very strong, and seemed to be nearby. Goku cautiously turned around…

Only to get punched in the face by a white fist with black fingernails.

The force of the punch immediately knocked Goku out, and he collapsed to the ground next to his clinically dead brother…


	10. Chapter 10

"Ugh…," Goku groaned as he sat up and pressed his hand to his forehead. Rubbing his eyes, he looked around, his expression changing from one of sleepiness to one of shock as he took in his surroundings. He remembered being on an island in the middle of a Namekian sea, not in a spaceship like he currently was. Looking around, his memories began to flood back to him. He remembered Raditz falling into the ocean and drowning. He remembered a white fist with black fingernails punching him in the face. "Where… am I?" he asked himself curiously. When there was no answer, he prepared to use Instant Transmission, but just as he activated his ability an enormous electric shock raced through his body. He screamed in agony and stopped trying to use Instant Transmission as he collapsed to the ground. His unkempt hair had been frazzled by the shock, and now it didn't resemble a palm tree, having become even spikier than it usually was.

Suddenly, Goku heard a choking sound, and he looked over his shoulder to see his brother lying nearby. Raditz appeared to be convulsing, and there was water gushing from his mouth. Even though he'd been forced to his knees, Goku was at the older Saiyan's side in seconds, and he helped the man to sit up. It was astonishing, the amount of water Raditz had swallowed; the gushing flow coming from the drowned Saiyan's mouth never seemed to end. But, finally, it did, and Raditz began to cough and breathe normally again. Goku gave his brother a relieved look as the Saiyan's face returned to normal colour – having gone blue from lack of oxygen – and Raditz looked up at his brother with a startled, confused, and worried look plastered onto his face.

"Ka-kakarot?" Raditz managed to gasp, before his body seized and he launched into a violent coughing fit. As soon as the coughing ceased, Raditz looked around and asked, "Wha-what is this…?" Fear began to set in for the older Saiyan. "Kakarot… d-do you kn-know where w-we are?" Raditz stuttered, as he began to shake, whether from cold or fear Goku couldn't tell. The younger Saiyan shook his head, confused. Raditz seemed to know where they were… but that was impossible, right?

"Raditz… do you know where we are?" Goku asked, hoping that Raditz wouldn't admit that he did. But when Raditz nodded – a slight movement, barely visible – and turned his head, panic began to settle in. "Please tell me!" Goku cried. _He'll not like it when I tell him…_ Raditz thought to himself. He refused to meet Goku's eyes, which were large and pleading. He didn't know how to say it. Taking a deep breath, Raditz finally turned to face Goku, who looked anxious.

Steeling himself for his brother's reaction, Raditz said, "Kakarot, we're on a Planet Trade Organisation Spacecraft." He let his words sink in before he continued. "Do you understand what that means?" he asked carefully. Unfortunately, the derpy look he received told him all that he needed to know, and he sighed. Goku didn't understand, and Raditz had been hoping that he wouldn't have to say the name. Swallowing his fear, Raditz spoke, "This ship is owned by Frieza." Goku froze. Raditz's thoughts began to race as he observed his brother. _Oh no… what's going to happen?_

Raditz wasn't expecting Goku's reaction. He began to see rage take hold of his brother, no doubt because of the shocking news Raditz had given him. It also probably was because of what Frieza had done. Raditz's eyes widened as he saw Goku start to change. His black hair began to stick upwards, exactly like their father's when he'd transformed into a Super Saiyan. Raditz took a few fearful steps backwards as Goku's eyes began to flash – green to black, green to black, over and over before finally staying green. His hair flashed a few times – gold to black – before there was absolutely no trace of black hair left. Fear flooded through Raditz, and he took a few more steps backwards until he was touching the wall. _What have I done?_ he asked himself.

And then… it stopped. A golden aura blazed around Goku, and Raditz took a few tentative steps forwards.

"Kakarot?" he asked warily, his voice shaking. Goku turned and looked at his older brother, and smiled as the golden aura disappeared. He seemed to be a lot gentler, and Raditz wondered if Goku had achieved a form of Super Saiyan that was unlike the others. He shook his head and laughed silently at his own suggestion. That couldn't be possible.

"I won't hurt you, brother," Goku said suddenly, his voice sounding very calm. Raditz didn't want to believe him, but there was something about Goku that made him believe his brother's words. There was a confidence in Goku that Raditz found appealing to the Saiyan blood rushing through his veins. Goku walked over to the door then and gently touched it. He realised that, while he'd been electrocuted while trying Instant Transmission, his Super Saiyan transformation had overridden the currents in the floor, and had all but destroyed them. "Now," he said, looking back at Raditz, "Let's break out, find the Namekians, get the Dragon Balls, summon Porunga, and wish for Vegeta to return." There was no question in Raditz's mind that Goku had given an order, but rather than disobey – like he previously would have done, due to Goku's age – Raditz went along with the Super Saiyan's plan.

Goku moved to Raditz's side, and they both looked at the door as they charged up an energy blast and prepared to blow it apart. However, it opened, surprising them both and making their charged ki blasts disappear. Raditz's eyes widened as he took in the figure before him. He couldn't believe it. There was no possibly way that the figure standing in front of the two Saiyan warriors could be there.

_He's dead… he can't be here, he can't be alive… I was sure he was dead…_ Raditz silently choked.

The creature standing before the two Saiyan warriors was the changeling that had ruled the Saiyans for seven painfully long years, before he'd destroyed their planet, and had controlled three of the eight survivors for many more years. He was also the creature that had died at the hands of the one thing he feared the most: a Super Saiyan.

The figure standing in front of them was the tyrant of the universe.

Frieza.


	11. Chapter 11

Back on Earth, the Z-Fighters and the small group of Saiyans were clustered around in a clearing far away from the site of the explosion. Food had been prepared – courtesy of Chi-Chi and, surprisingly enough, Fasha – and now they were resting as much as they all could. Abruptly, Bardock sat up, which surprised everybody. He looked up into the skies with a horrified and worried expression on his face. He had a terrible feeling, a feeling that Raditz and Goku's mission had gone badly. While he couldn't exactly tell what had happened, he just _knew_ that something was wrong.

"Bardock, mate, are you alright?" Tora asked as he looked over at his best friend. Chi-Chi looked at her father-in-law curiously (she still couldn't believe that her Saiyan father-in-law was alive again) and noticed that it was contorted into a mask of fear and horror. Trunks and Goten (who had been practicing the Metamorese Fusion Dance) stopped and walked over as they saw Bardock's expression. Trunks sat down near his father's dead body. "Bardock?" Tora urged again, starting to become desperate.

"No…," Bardock whispered. Tora strained to hear Bardock's voice as he said, "Something has happened. This changes everything…" Bardock shook his head as he tried to control the immense fear he had for his sons. "Kakarot… Raditz… my sons… they're in danger…," the Super Saiyan murmured. Everyone – Z-Fighter and Saiyan alike – gasped in horror and bewilderment. Tora and Fasha shared a look. They were both confused. They'd known Bardock their entire lives. They knew that he'd never had this type of sense before. So why did he have it now? Was it something to do with being a father… or was it something to do with being a Super Saiyan? Or had it even been that incident on Kanassa…?

Bardock stood then, looking angrily up at the sky. His fists were balled tightly, and small droplets of blood were dripping down from where he was cutting into his palms with his fingernails. As they all looked, the Saiyans and Z-Fighters saw that Bardock's hair was beginning to take on the shape and colour of a Super Saiyan. Tora panicked, and before Bardock could fully transform, Tora grabbed his arm. Bardock looked curiously down at his friend, wondering about his motives. The Saiyan warrior was giving Bardock a stern look reserved only for battle.

Bardock's semi-transformed state disappeared after a few tense moments, and his hair returned to its typical palm-tree style. He growled angrily as he sat back down on the ground and hung his head. He felt horrible and useless. There was absolutely _nothing_ that he could do… and both of his children were in danger. He wanted to help them. He didn't want them to die. But, as a battle-hardened warrior, he knew that if he charged into battle with no thought to his own life, his fate would be no different to that of his children's fate. They'd all die, and probably nobody would ever know. Bardock sighed, and his whole body began to shake with anger. Everyone looked at him, a mixture of confusion, horror and sympathy on their faces. Gohan (who'd finally woken) felt strongly for the Saiyan man. Gohan felt Bardock's pain; he'd lost his father many a time, and he didn't want to lose him again. He knew that Bardock had only just met his youngest son for the first time, and Gohan definitely understood that Bardock didn't want to lose either of his children. Chi-Chi sighed. She understood too. Her children were precious to her… and she understood that Bardock's children were precious to him, too.

The ground began to shake again, and everybody capable of fighting stood up, except for Bardock. King Vegeta became guarded and took up a fighting stance, looking around cautiously. Suddenly he whipped around, to see the creature. It was back. At first, King Vegeta's instincts told him to fight, but in his heart he knew that it would be a stupid move. Bardock sighed as he finally dragged himself to his feet, and initiated his Super Saiyan transformation. Taking up a fighting stance, Bardock steeled himself for attack. He would fight if he had to. There was no question about it.

Abruptly, the creature roared and lunged for the group. All of the warriors tensed up, ready to be attacked… but the creature bypassed them. Horrified, everyone realised that it was going straight for Vegeta's unprotected corpse. King Vegeta turned on his heel in a desperate attempt to stop the creature, but he was too late. Nobody was fast enough to stop the creature as it enveloped Vegeta and began to mutate until it resembled something that looked vaguely like protoplasm before… _merging_ with him?! King Vegeta's eyes bugged out of his head as he began to feel sick. A grunt of disgust came from Nappa, who was shying away from the still corpse of Vegeta. But apparently, that wasn't the end of it.

Vegeta's eyes snapped open.

Trunks screamed loudly in horror as everyone stumbled backwards. Vegeta was dead! There was no way he could have opened his eyes, right? But no. Vegeta was now struggling to his feet, although there was something terribly off with his movements. Both of his arms were hanging limply, and Vegeta swayed on his feet. His head was hanging, looking down at the floor. Or so the warriors all thought. In reality, Vegeta was staring at all of them. Suddenly, he took a shaky step forward, and slowly looked up. Everyone swallowed and took many steps backwards fearfully. His eyes seemed to blaze with a hidden fire as they burned into King Vegeta soul. The king gagged and stumbled backwards, bumping into a terrified Nappa. This couldn't be his son. There was no way. This was something else entirely, something that wasn't Saiyan. It was the eyes that gave the creature away. The blood-red, pupil-less eyes with no whites to them. They were just blood-red.

And hungry.


	12. Chapter 12

Raditz and Goku stumbled through the hallways of Frieza's ship, terrified as they tried to avoid the barrage of energy blasts that were being fired at them from behind. Raditz looked over his shoulder, and a thin beam narrowly missed his cheek and pierced the wall. Behind him, he could see the maniacal face of Frieza, who was cackling as he calmly walked after him. Raditz shook his head. He had to keep telling himself that that _thing_ was not Frieza. The red eyes – bloodthirsty, pupil-less eyes – had revealed to both Saiyans that something was using the changeling for its own ends… which was actually rather terrifying, even for Goku.

Raditz made up his mind then. "Kakarot, keep running!" he yelled to his younger brother, and Goku skidded to a stop as Raditz froze and turned on his heel. Grimacing, Raditz began to charge an energy blast in his hand, and Goku realised that Raditz was buying time for Goku to find the Namekians. But there was something that Raditz wouldn't say, something that Goku had realised. Raditz, even though he was buying time, was going to die. Raditz looked over at his horrified brother and smiled sadly. "I'm so, so sorry… but it's up to you to get the Dragon Balls and revive Vegeta. Now go!" he yelled as he looked back at the changeling. Goku had no choice to obey, and he fled, but before he did, Raditz said one last thing, "When you get back to Earth… tell Dad that I love him. And I'm sorry."

With that, Goku departed from his brother and turned around a corner as his Super Saiyan wore out. He could hear nothing save for the sound of energy blasts being fired, and the sounds of the two warriors attacking each other. This continued until he could hear nothing else, and he continued to walk through the huge maze of hallways that had taken him far from the battlefield. Tears began to run down his cheeks. He didn't wipe them away as he slowed his pace to a walk and began to search for the Namekians. Suddenly he tripped, and when he looked around he saw a large, orange, spherical crystal with three stars, and he grinned. He stood and dusted himself off before picking the Dragon Ball. Looking around for the others, he didn't find them, so he shrugged and walked around a bit.

"Hey, aren't you… Yes, yes you are! Goku!" he heard somebody say, and he turned around to see a gathering of Namekians. Goku grinned from ear to ear as he observed the group. Happily looking at the young Saiyan was the Namek Elder, Moori. Goku walked over to them happily.

"Elder Moori, you're alright!" he said excitedly. The Nameks and Goku shared greetings, and as they asked Goku told them his reasons for coming to their pristine little planet. Moori nodded, showing his understanding, and frowned. "I need to wish Vegeta back so that he can help us fight against a new threat," Goku said, pausing as he thought back to the doppelganger of himself, "And Shenron won't revive him because he's already been brought back once." Moori nodded again as he looked back at the nodding people behind him. The Nameks were absolutely indebted to Goku, for defeating Frieza the first time and finding them a new home.

"Well then, let's go back to the village," Moori said, looking around the spaceship. The Nameks looked fearful, as if they knew that Frieza was not himself…

Suddenly there was a crash, and Raditz flew through the wall and slammed into the one next to Goku before slumping to the floor. The Nameks and Goku sharply took in a breath as they looked down at him. The warrior was bleeding very badly, and the skin on his chest was ripped and torn, almost as if someone had tried to get at his heart. The muscle of the heart was visible, and with each pump of blood, Raditz seemed to spasm and twitch uncontrollably. Blood splashed out. Goku realised then that something had _indeed_ tried to get at Raditz's heart…

Suddenly, a laugh emanated through the hallway, and Goku whipped around to see Frieza standing there, his tail flicking. He looked gleeful, and there was blood and scraps of armour and skin dangling from his arms. His red eyes flicked over until they settled on Goku, and he hissed and licked his lips. But Goku wasn't afraid. The warrior – the Saiyan inside – was telling Goku not to be afraid, and to kill the possessed tyrant. _This thing tried to kill your brother._ Goku wasn't sure why an internal voice told him this, but it was enough.

Rage bubbled within Goku's body, and he desperately tried to fight the urge to launch himself forward and kill. He would be blinded by his anger, and that would do him no good; he'd end up just like Raditz or, worse, dead. Instead, he decided to go for a different option.

"Everyone grab my shoulders!" he cried as he grabbed Raditz's arm and turned to the scared group of Namekians. Silently, the green snail-like aliens complied, and Goku desperately put two fingers to his forehead as Frieza stalked forward. Then Frieza's eyes widened, and he tried to reach out and grab Goku… but it was too late.

Goku vanished.

He reappeared far away from the ship, dumping the Namekians unceremoniously on the ground as he did so. Not a single one complained, however, as they all stood and dusted themselves off. Goku picked up Raditz and moved him to a patch of soft grass, gently laying him down on. After a quick observation, Goku saw that, while Raditz was deep within the clutches of unconsciousness, he was suffering greatly. The very sight made Goku angry, but he calmed himself as he turned to the Namekians.

"Can you tell me where the rest of the Dragon Balls are?" Goku asked Moori. He'd passed the Three-Star Ball to Cargo, a Namekian who was just a bit younger than Dende. Moori nodded and told Goku that all of the Dragon Balls were located in the sole Namekian village. The village itself was only a few miles south of where they'd all appeared, and Goku felt relief surge through him. However, he was also terribly worried. He couldn't leave his agonised brother, but he needed to get the Dragon Balls or else Vegeta would stay dead… and Goku knew that he needed Vegeta's help. He groaned as he sat down next to his twitching brother, and gently touched the older warrior's arm. He tried to think of a solution, but failed. It was Moori who came up with one.

"We will go and get the Dragon Balls, and then we will bring them back here," he said, and Goku nodded vigorously as he felt his mood lighten. Moori signalled for a few of the Namekians to fetch the other Dragon Balls, and as they flew off, Goku dared another look at his pain-ridden brother. Looking at Raditz's chest, Goku saw that the armour had mostly been ripped off so that there was only a shoulder pad and the right side of the armour left. What Goku was transfixed by was the large, beating organ that was visible. He didn't know the first thing about Saiyan physiology, so he didn't know if the large heart was a good thing or a bad thing. His breath caught as he leaned over and gently touched his brother's chest… or what remained of it. Raditz twitched, and Goku immediately withdrew his hand.

For a few more hours, Goku waited; all the while thinking of Raditz and everyone else back home. Finally, the Namekians returned, each with two Dragon Balls in tow. Goku felt a familiar thrill race through him at seeing the magical artefacts, and the Namekians placed them on the ground. Cargo placed the final one down next to them, and they glowed with a beautiful orange light. Then, it was decided that Moori would be the one to summon Porunga, as Goku had no idea how to speak the Namekian language. He understood that the wishes had to be made in Namekian, even though Porunga _could_ speak the common tongue, and he also didn't know the password. Everyone fell silent then as Moori raised his arms so that his palms were facing the sky.

_"Takkaraputo popurunga pupirittoparo!"_ Moori cried, and the Dragon Balls glowed brightly as the sky began to grow dark. Clouds began to form – angry and dark – and lighting began to flash and strike the ground. A brilliant beam of bright, yellow-white light suddenly shot up from the Dragon Balls, and as it began to twist and curve, the feeling of awe that Goku felt started to get stronger. Finally, a dragon formed from the beam of light, but this one was different to the Earth's Eternal Dragon. He was much more muscular…and apparently much more powerful.

Porunga had been summoned.


	13. Chapter 13

Porunga floated above the Namekians and the two Saiyans. Goku felt more than just slightly awed. He'd seen the Eternal Dragon of Earth, Shenron, many a time, but strangely enough, he'd never seen Porunga before.

"YOU HAVE SUMMONED ME," the great dragon's voice boomed, and a chill washed over Goku, "I SHALL GRANT YOU THREE WISHES THAT ARE WITHIN MY POWER TO GRANT! WHAT IS YOUR FIRST WISH?" Goku looked away from Porunga and over at Moori, who was looking at him expectantly. Goku told Moori the first wish – to bring Vegeta back from the dead, and Moori nodded. Turning back to Porunga, Moori told the Eternal Dragon the wish in the Namek language. Porunga's eyes glowed an eerie red, and then stopped. "YOUR WISH HAS BEEN GRANTED," the dragon boomed, and then he looked down at Goku and Moori specifically. "WHAT IS YOUR SECOND WISH?" he asked. Goku frowned, at a loss for words. He looked back at Moori, hoping that Moori had a suggestion. Moori frowned and shrugged.

"How about you ask Porunga to heal your brother's injuries?" Cargo suggested, and Goku realised that it was a good suggestion as he nodded. Goku turned to Moori, but the Namekian was already asking. Goku smiled as Porunga's eyes glowed, and he looked back to see his brother's skin magically reappear over his chest, and his beating heart muscle was hidden. He stopped twitching, and his breathing settled back into a normal rhythm. His eyes fluttered open, and the first thing he saw was Porunga. The Saiyan jumped up in fright, only to meet his brother's eyes. After a moment of hesitation, Raditz strode over to his brother, and they both looked up at the Dragon. Raditz's eyes went wide as he took in the sheer majesty of the Namek Eternal Dragon.

"WHAT IS YOUR THIRD WISH?" Porunga suddenly boomed, and Goku and Raditz shared a look with the Nameks. None of them knew what to wish for; as far as the Saiyans were concerned, they had nothing else to wish for, and the Namekians certainly didn't need a wish. They all stood in silence, before a growl emanated through the sky. "SPEAK NOW!" Porunga growled, with the typical impatience of the Eternal Dragons. Goku finally looked up at the dragon.

"Can you simply save the wish?" Goku asked the Namekian dragon. Porunga nodded and bid them all farewell, before glowing brighter than the sun. He disappeared into the sky, and the Dragon Balls followed him. With a final bright flash, they shot in all different directions, making Goku feel slightly guilty. It would take ages for the Namekians to relocate and recollect the Dragon Balls, especially because they didn't have a radar like the one Bulma had made. Turning to Moori, Goku apologised, "Sorry that they're gone, Elder," as he looked down at his feet. Moori simply smiled.

"It's not a problem, Goku," he said. Goku immediately felt relieved, and he turned to Raditz and smiled. Raditz looked at his brother silently.

"Are you ready to go home?" Goku asked. He didn't get a verbal answer; Raditz simply nodded and remained silent, still utterly flabbergasted at the sight of the Eternal Dragon. Grabbing his brother's shoulder, Goku placed two fingers to his forehead and closed his eyes, searching for the energy of Earth's inhabitants, and as soon as he found them, he disappeared, taking his older brother along with him.

A few minutes later, both Saiyans reappeared on Earth, and Raditz fell unceremoniously to the ground yet again, this time slamming his chin against a rock. Standing, he rubbed his jawbone and looked around, frowning when he didn't see Goku. Turning to his right, he jumped nearly a foot in the air when he saw Goku standing only inches away, and his frown deepened when he saw the expression of concern and worry of his little brother's face. Raditz's frown, if possible, deepened even more. What could possibly be bothering Goku so much?

"Hey, Kakarot, are you alright?" Raditz asked, closing the miniature gap between them and touching his brother gently on the shoulder. Goku shook his head as he turned to face Raditz. The two brothers locked eyes.

"We've done something bad," he said quietly. Raditz cocked his head to the side.

"Bad?" he asked, strangely not doubting his brother. Goku nodded and sighed, turning his head away. When he looked back at his brother, there was a dark look in his eyes that scared Raditz with its ominous, stormy depths. He took a few steps backwards fearfully. "Kakarot… please tell me…" he begged as Goku looked away, and his head hung.

"I think… Vegeta was under the influence of whatever was controlling Frieza," Goku whispered, his voice so low that Raditz strained to hear, "And now… now that Vegeta's alive…" Goku didn't need to say anything more. Raditz paled as his brother said solemnly, "That _thing_ is in control of both its own power _and_ Vegeta's."

"Wh-what does this mean?" Raditz asked shakily, although he was certain that he already knew the answer. His hand fell from Goku's shoulder as he turned away, his eyes wide with terror. Goku placed his hand on Raditz's shoulder, and the two Saiyans locked eyes again. Raditz wasn't liking this at all.

"You already know, don't you?" Goku asked softly. "Vegeta's not himself anymore."

"But… that means…" Raditz trailed off as he realised _exactly_ what this meant. His heartbeat slowed as his blood began to run cold. His stomach sank, and he stopped breathing. Goku looked sadly into Raditz's eyes. He didn't want to say it, and Raditz didn't want to hear it. But both knew that what Goku had to say quite possibly could be the truth. Goku just didn't know what else to say. Looking away from Raditz, he sucked in air and steeled himself for the painful truth that he was about to unleash upon the world.

"We might all be doomed."


	14. Chapter 14

Raditz could do nothing but stare at Goku. He was utterly shocked. He just couldn't bring himself to believe that his little brother – the very one who'd made the Saiyan legend become reality and had defeated Frieza – had said that it was highly likely that everyone was going to die. It just couldn't be happening. _Yet,_ Raditz thought in a state of horror, _it is._ There was just no way in all of the universes that Raditz could have imagined Goku's words.

"Kakarot… Surely, _surely_ you can't mean it," Raditz begged. He couldn't believe it. No. He _wouldn't_ believe it. There was a difference. "I mean… you… you were the one who defeated Frieza!" Raditz desperately said. He was clinging to his denial, but he was slowly slipping. "You have to be able to…" Raditz broke off as he bit his lip, unsure of what he'd been about to say. He turned away from his brother, completely at a loss for words, and began shaking. His denial of this whole mess had been fragile to begin with, but now it shattered into shards and disappeared, almost like his denial had been a simple piece of paper torn and thrown into the wind.

Goku sighed. "I'm sorry, Raditz," he said, "The best thing we can do now is find everyone and hope that we can stop Vegeta." Raditz didn't miss the hidden implication in Goku's words, and Raditz shivered, even though it wasn't cold. Goku floated into the air, and hovered as he looked down at his older brother. Raditz was hugging his own torso, desperately trying to stop himself from shaking. "Are you coming?" he asked. Raditz looked up at him stupidly for a moment, and then followed along silently. The two brothers quickly and quietly flew towards the power levels that Goku had sensed, knowing that they had to get there in time.

They couldn't afford to waste what little time they had…

"We're too late," Goku suddenly said, just as Raditz felt like he'd swallowed an iceberg. "One is already gone!" he said as Raditz felt something that vaguely felt like a weight had been implanted into his heart. He looked down at the ground, desperately trying to blink back tears. When he looked back up, Goku was looking straight at him with a sad, worried expression. "Are you alright, brother?" the younger warrior asked, and Raditz just looked at him sadly. He had nothing to say, and he didn't know _what_ he could say. Something had gone horribly, horribly wrong, and the older of the two warriors was definitely _not_ okay.

They finally reached the clearing, where they landed and were greeting by the most horrific of sights. Gohan was lying on the ground, clearly gasping for breath, while Vegeta was standing over him. But while the half-Saiyan was still very much alive, but there was someone laying nearby that looked worse off than anything Raditz or Goku had ever seen. Looking over at Bardock's team, Raditz felt horror course through him as he saw Fasha crying into Tora's chest, and Tora, Shugesh and Borgos were struggling to blink back tears of their own. Then Raditz fixed his attention on Vegeta. The expression on the Saiyan prince's face made Raditz want to crawl in a hole and just die. It was a look far worse than any glare a Saiyan could muster… and they could muster some pretty bad glares. Vegeta's expression was cold, dead, merciless, and above all, cruel. It was unnatural.

Raditz looked over at the motionless Saiyan lying nearby, and anger surged through him. Goku followed his gaze and asked, "Oh no… That's Daddy, isn't it?" as he looked over at his brother. Raditz gave only one indication that he'd heard, and it was a slight nod. He was having an issue keeping his anger in check as he watched the others trying to fight off Vegeta, who'd moved away from Gohan's beaten body. Raditz really didn't feel like snapping at his little brother, of all people, but he knew that if he spoke, a snapping would be inevitable. Goku suddenly put his hand on his brother's shoulder. "Hey, don't try to repress it, okay?" he said suddenly. Raditz gave the young Saiyan a sceptical look. "It is times like this," he gestured at the battle, "Where anger and grief can make us stronger." Goku, for once, sounded very wise.

Raditz balled his fists. "I… can't…" he growled. Goku frowned, confused…

And then Raditz lost it.

He roared as he rushed towards Vegeta, anger fuelling his power and making him a _lot_ stronger. Goku took a few steps backwards, shocked. Raditz hadn't turned into a Super Saiyan, but he was damn well close to it. Goku mused to himself that if Raditz was pushed any further, maybe he would undergo the transformation… Looking over at Bardock then, Goku frowned and began to believe that there was probably wasn't anything left to push Raditz further.

Raditz slammed his fist into Vegeta's face, breaking his cheekbone and actually making the Saiyan prince flying a few metres, so much so that the royal smacked into a tree and collapsed to the ground. He began to cough, but as he did, something that resembled a gelatinous blob floated out from Vegeta's mouth and disappeared over the treetops and into the sky. Raditz, who wanted to give chase, refrained and instead followed its movement with his eyes until it floated out of perceptual range. He then turned back to Vegeta, who everyone was warily looking at. The Saiyan prince was awake, looking around in a state of shock, and rubbing his broken cheekbone. He saw everyone staring at him, and he frowned.

"What… happened?"


	15. Chapter 15

Raditz glared angrily at Vegeta. "You want to know what happened?!" he roared in the unsuspecting prince's face, leaning towards the prince with his teeth bared. Vegeta cringed away, more out of shock than fear, and Bardock's team took a few steps forward, as did Nappa, in preparation to restrain Raditz if need be. Goku rested his hand on his brother's shoulder in a bid to calm the angry warrior, but Raditz angrily shrugged it off as he grabbed Vegeta by the collar and swung him up into the air before slamming him into the tree he was resting against. Using his forearm to pin Vegeta's throat, Raditz growled, "You killed my father." It was obvious that while Vegeta could have easily gotten free, Raditz was compromising his ability to breathe if the Saiyan prince so much as _twitched_. Vegeta tried to shake his head, which only made Raditz press his forearm harder against the prince's neck. King Vegeta took a worried step forward, but was held back by Nappa.

"I… urk… didn't… do… anything," Vegeta managed to gasp out, but Raditz still didn't let him go. Goku grabbed his brother's shoulder again and squeezed, but it didn't do anything, so he let his brother's shoulder go and instead grabbed his upper arm. Raditz fixed his brother with a cold glare, and Goku did the exact same. The two brothers had a brief stare-off, before Raditz finally relented and removed his arm from Vegeta's throat. The Saiyan prince fell to the dirt and clutched his neck gently, coughing, and Trunks ran to his father's aid. Raditz turned away from the prince and fixed him with a sharp glare from his peripheral vision.

"Then tell me what killed him," the older warrior said coldly. Vegeta looked up at the low-class, and King Vegeta strode cautiously over, Nappa following behind. Everyone waited with bated breath for Vegeta's explanation.

Unfortunately for the others, Vegeta shook his head and sighed loudly. "I can't give you an explanation," he said, and Raditz's eyes flashed with anger as he whipped around (nearly knocking Goku over with his huge mass of hair). Vegeta shook his head. "I don't know what happened here," he said slowly, rubbing his throat – which was, more than likely, going to bruise. Trunks looked away then, but Vegeta caught the movement and looked down at his eight-year-old. He snorted. "What is it, boy?" Coming from the prince, the words sounded rude and uncaring, but King Vegeta could see that it was all a ruse. In reality, Vegeta did care for Trunks; he was just doing a shoddy job at showing it.

"Dad…," Trunks hesitated, and Vegeta raised an eyebrow, making the boy become worried, "You died." Vegeta's eyes widened, and he rubbed his back, showing that he did indeed remember the circumstances of his death. "That creature possessed you – we still don't know how – while Goku and Raditz were on Namek looking for the Dragon Balls," Trunks paused as he gestured to Goku and Raditz, "And you attacked us. We all fought back, but…" Trunks looked over at Bardock's still body. Vegeta frowned and realised what Raditz had meant with his earlier comments. Suddenly, Vegeta saw someone standing behind Trunks, and as Trunks whipped around to see what his dad was staring at, he went as white as a sheet.

Standing there was the one person that nobody had wanted to tell that Vegeta had been killed.


	16. Chapter 16

"What do you mean?" Bulma scowled at her son before looking at Vegeta, "You were _dead_?!" she screeched. Vegeta could only stare at his wife, not knowing what to say. He didn't know any more than Bulma did. She growled at him before turning back to Trunks, even angrier than before as everyone remembered back to the phone call. "You lied to me!" she yelled, and Trunks looked away from his mother, embarrassed and ashamed.

"Well, I didn't want you to panic," Trunks whined quietly. Bulma shot her son an evil look, and as the two started arguing, King Vegeta smirked. Everyone began to watch the hilarity of Bulma's argument with Trunks… except for Goku. His attention was on Raditz. The older warrior had moved to Bardock's side and was doing nothing more than sitting there with his face hidden from everyone. Goku had no idea what Raditz was feeling – the closest he could come was meeting his grandfather again after Grandpa Gohan's death by Oozaru – but he still felt nothing but sympathy for his older brother. Sighing, he walked over and plopped down on the grass next to Raditz, hugging his knees to his chest as he silently observed his brother.

Finally, after a few moments of silence between the two, Goku spoke. "Brother?" he asked cautiously. Everyone waited with bated breath as there was nothing but tense silence. Nobody knew exactly what Raditz would do next, not even Fasha and Tora, who'd helped Bardock to raise him. As a Saiyan, Raditz was completely unpredictable when his emotions were running as rampant as they were. Luckily, Raditz's only movement was to look up at Goku very briefly before hiding his face again. Everyone was watching now, even Bulma and Trunks, and Tien, Piccolo and Yamcha – the three that hated the Saiyans the most – even felt sympathetic. It had to be hard for the Saiyan to see his father like this. "Is… there anything I can do?" Goku asked quietly, but got no response from Raditz but a simple, small shake of the head.

"Kakarot," Vegeta called then, stepping around his wife and child. Bulma shot an angry glare at her husband, but did nothing. "Leave Raditz be," he said, stopping after striding a few metres. He didn't dare venture near Raditz, especially because of what he'd supposedly done. There was an audible sigh from Gohan, who looked away then from his uncle, dad and grandfather, not wanting to see Raditz's misery anymore. Not following Vegeta's advice, Goku stayed where he was and simply fell silent and quietly started to observe Raditz again. Vegeta sighed, realising that Goku's silence was as good as he was going to get. "Well, I tried," he mused.

King Vegeta strode over to Vegeta and quietly said, "Not hard enough, my son." Vegeta sighed and nodded, as he knew his father's words were the truth. Suddenly, everyone jumped from a sudden yell from Raditz. They all saw Goku jump back in alarm as well. Both had shot up pretty quickly. "What is it?" King Vegeta asked Raditz, worried that something bad was happening, something that only the two brothers knew. All Raditz did was point at Bardock. His skin was white, and his hand – as well as his whole body – was shaking uncontrollably, almost like he was trapped in his own earthquake.

"Raditz? What's wrong?" Fasha asked. Being like an aunt to Raditz, she was certain that she was able to urge him to tell her. She was wrong. Raditz didn't speak. Instead, he shook his head – being absolutely speechless – and Fasha rolled her eyes before posing the question to Goku. He wasn't much more helpful; he simply pointed at Bardock with an expression of shock and amazement. The female warrior rolled her eyes again. "Helpful, boys," she muttered before looking down at Bardock, trying to discern what the brothers had. Abruptly, she shrieked in shock and jumped backwards, tripping over a rock and stumbling into Tora, taking him down with her.

"Fasha?" Borgos asked as he walked over and pulled Fasha to her feet. Incapable of speech, Fasha simply looked up at her comrade, her purple eyes wide with shock. Borgos frowned, not understanding. "Is something the matter?" he asked. Fasha said nothing as he looked over at Bardock. Shugesh was also looking over at Bardock, trying to figure out what was freaking Fasha, Goku, and Raditz out so much.

"Dad's… moving…," Raditz whispered, his eyes wide. Everyone looked over at him, having not expected him to utter a word. Piccolo frowned, not understanding.

"What do you mean?" Piccolo asked. "Your father is dead," he said coldly. Raditz looked over at Piccolo and swallowed his fear of the Namekian before continuing.

"I'm not kidding," he said, his voice sounding stronger. "Dad's moving," he said, gesturing to his father. Everyone cautiously looked down at the Saiyan warrior, and saw that Raditz was telling the truth. Bardock's fingers were twitching ever so slightly, and everyone stared at him, shocked. The only ones who hadn't seen the blow Bardock had taken had been Bulma, Goku and Raditz, but everyone else knew that a blow like that wasn't so easily recovered from. In fact, Bardock should have been dead. There was no possible explanation to how _he was still moving_.

"No way…," Goten whispered as he clutched Gohan's leg tightly. Gohan placed a hand on his younger brother's head, in a comforting gesture, but he said nothing as Bardock arm moved. He groaned then – he was awake, it would seem – and Raditz knelt down next to Bardock curiously.

"Dad?" he asked, hoping to get a response. He definitely got one.

"H-hey… w-when did… y-you and Kakarot… g-get back?" Bardock managed to choke out as he tried to stand. He collapsed onto the dirt, but that didn't deter him one bit as he continually tried to stand. His team stared at him wordlessly. Not only was he not dead, but Bardock was trying to stand after a blow like that. Tora shook his head. Bardock was one of the few Saiyans that was insane enough to take of first-rate mission, and he always came back half-dead, but alive. Nobody really knew how he did it.

"Just before," Raditz said as he helped his father to stand properly. Blood was dripping in scarlet rivers down Bardock's cheek, and Raditz noticed that the scar on his cheek had been ripped open. Disgruntled, Raditz growled as he remembered how long it had taken for the scar to heal the first time, which had been a few months, even with the help of the isolation chambers. "What were you playing at? I thought you were dead," Raditz spat bitterly. Bardock looked at his son apologetically, before looking at everyone else.

"Heh… I'm sorry for scaring you all," Bardock apologised, sheepishly scratching the back of his neck. He looked up at Raditz and said, "Let me go." Hesitantly, Raditz stopped supporting his father and waited for a brief minute, fearfully thinking that the older Saiyan was going to collapse again. Raditz's fears were proved wrong; Bardock, while a little shaky, managed to stand well on his own two feet, and he didn't need to use his tail for balance. King Vegeta strode over then, and scowled angrily.

"And why did you feel the need to scare us like that?" the royal Saiyan demanded angrily, gesturing at everyone. Bardock rubbed his forehead and turned away from the king.

"Stupid divination…," he murmured, not answering the question posed to him by the royal Saiyan. King Vegeta stopped, minorly stupefied. Bardock's team shared a look before Fasha stepped over to the warrior and stood in front of him.

"Divination? Where the hell'd you get that?" she hissed. A memory returned to her then, and Fasha's eyes widened as she said, "Unless…" Trailing off, Fasha reminisced about that fated mission to Kanassa, and she looked at Bardock, concerned. "Bardock," she said softly, getting the warrior's attention, "What the hell did that creepy thing do to you?" Bardock hesitated. He knew _exactly_ what she was getting at. The incident on Kanassa hadn't been one of his finer moments, and he was hesitant to tell her what he'd gained from Toolo, the Kanassan survivor that had later been killed by Bardock personally.

Taking a deep breath, Bardock told her, "Uh… he 'blessed' me with the power to see my own demise?"


	17. Chapter 17

"So basically, you can see the future? _And_ read minds?" Bulma asked, her expression incredulous, as Bardock finished his explanation of his divination. The older warrior nodded, seeming to be tired, and both groups started to whisper among themselves. Looking over, Bardock saw that Raditz was sitting away from him, and wasn't saying a word. The father of two could sense that something was troubling his oldest son, but he sighed as he didn't ask. Raditz, as Bardock knew well, wasn't one for telling people if he had a problem; the young warrior liked to deal with his shit on his own, it would seem. That, or he was too proud to admit that he had a problem.

"Wow… can't believe those guys at the bar never believed you," Tora muttered, and Bardock sighed as he looked over at his friend. He'd told them all about the destruction of Planet Vegeta, and the incident at the bar was still fresh in his memory. He'd been confused and worried, having lost his team just moments before to Frieza's henchman, Dodoria, and the elite soldiers that had accompanied that fat pink man-blob. Bardock suddenly smirked.

"Well, I wouldn't have believed me either," he admitted. Tora cocked his head to the side, and Bardock explained, "I did sound a little crazy." Tora smirked as Bulma stood and sighed, dusting herself off. Everyone looked up at her, confused. Vegeta stood as well, with a worried expression on his face.

"Well," she huffed, "you guys are gonna need a place to stay," she gestured to the small group of Saiyans, "and I don't think Vegeta thought of that." As she spoke, she looked over at her husband with a frown. He grimaced and, seeing that she'd been correct, the human woman smiled and pulled a Dyno-Cap from her pocket. The Saiyans – having never seen a Dyno-Cap before – all watched warily as Bulma pressed the button down on the top. A click was heard, and then Bulma threw the capsule some distance away. There was a sound vaguely like an explosion, more of a _boof!_ sound, and smoke billowed out. Everyone stared at the smoke cleared, and revealed a jet with the Capsule Corporation logo on the side. The Saiyans' eyes nearly bugged out of their heads; how could a jet fit in such a tiny space?

"What the…?" King Vegeta murmured before turning to his daughter-in-law. "What is your plan?" he asked, and Bulma smiled as she saw the wariness in the king's eyes. But she didn't answer right away as everyone watched what Goku was doing. He'd walked over to the door of the jet and – much to Bardock's amusement – was trying to open it, although he was failing miserably. Bulma sighed.

"One sec," she said to King Vegeta as she wandered over to the dumbfounded Goku. Stopping in front of him, she said, "You open it like this, dummy," as she pressed a button next to the door. The door opened, and Goku looked down at his feet, scratching the back of his head wordlessly. Bardock smiled as everyone began to laugh at the young Saiyan's mistake, and even Goku cracked a smile. He didn't seem to be bothered by his own mistake; such was his light, easy-going nature. Bulma walked back over to the king then. "Sorry about that," she apologised, and King Vegeta inclined his head ever so slightly in acceptance. "We'll be taking the jet back to Capsule Corporation, where Vegeta and I live," she said, looking at her husband briefly before looking back to the king. He nodded. Satisfied, Bulma turned to the Z-Fighters and asked them who would fly the jet. Nobody wanted to – not even Yamcha – and Bulma frowned as they finally settled on who would fly. Bulma was reluctant about the decision, but didn't say anything else as she checked over the jet for any malfunctions.

"Right then…," Raditz murmured quietly to himself as he strode over and tapped Vegeta lightly on the shoulder. The prince turned and looked at Raditz, a confused expression on his face.

"Yes?" Vegeta's tone was not condescending, as Raditz had expected, but rather it was curious. Raditz shook his head.

"I don't understand why we need to use _that_," he said disdainfully, pointing at the jet but never taking his eyes from Vegeta. "Why can't we just fly there?" he asked. Vegeta suppressed a giggle, even though he found the question – or, rather, the answer to the question – amusing.

"It'd look a bit weird if there were flying people around," Vegeta said. Raditz frowned, not understanding, and Vegeta sighed. "Earthlings can't fly… or even use ki naturally," he said, putting just a bit of disdain into his voice. The disdain wasn't entirely faked – Vegeta thought that the human race was soft and weak, minus a few (even then, he still thought them inferior) – and he really didn't like them. Raditz snickered as he walked away from Vegeta and over to his father, who was bickering with Tora. He rolled his eyes. Arguments like this were normal, but he still felt embarrassed because the arguments could escalate quickly.

"C'mon, you idiots," Fasha said as she walked up to the two and tugged on their armour. They both glared at her as she began to drag them towards the jet. Shugesh and Borgos followed with smiles on their faces, and Raditz rolled his eyes again as he followed. King Vegeta and Nappa followed as well, and so did the Z-Fighters. Surprisingly, it wasn't a tight fit; the jet was larger than it appeared. Gohan sat down next to Raditz, surprising the warrior, and leaned over with a fearful look to his eyes.

"Fear for you lives," he muttered. The Saiyans, who had heard Gohan's muttering, looked quizzically over at the half-Saiyan.

"Um… why?" he asked, not seeing Goku sit in the driver's seat of the jet. Vegeta sat in the co-pilot's seat, but nobody noticed that either. It was only when Gohan pointed it out that everyone began to worry. Everyone went as white as a sheet as Gohan groaned.

"Dad's driving."


	18. Chapter 18

The flight to Capsule Corporation felt very long to all those in the jet. Only to Gohan, the trip was hilariously funny. It was amusing because of Bardock's reactions to what happened. Earlier, Goku had accidently slammed the jet's wing into a rock face, and Bardock had latched onto Raditz's arm and hadn't let go. He hadn't moved a muscle from his position. Vegeta had moved from the co-pilot seat; apparently it was terrifying to sit next to Goku while he was driving.

"Earth is such a beautiful place," Tora murmured as he looked out of the jet's window and admired the scenery. Chi-Chi smiled at the Saiyan warrior before looking over at Goku. He was currently in a state of deep concentration, but Chi-Chi didn't know why. Maybe it was because of the reprimand he'd gotten from Bardock after the simple accident. He was probably trying not to alarm his father again. Raditz suddenly sighed, and everyone looked over at him.

"To think that this planet could have been Frieza's, if Kakarot hadn't hit his head…," he mused, more to himself than anyone else, but they all heard him and nodded. They all had to agree with him; he was right, after all. Raditz – just like the other Saiyans – all knew of the task that Goku had been assigned to. His job had been to kill all Earthlings and prepare the planet for sale on the Planet Trade Market. That was when Goku sighed audibly, and Raditz looked up at his little brother. "You okay?" he asked. Goku nodded slightly, but nobody was convinced. There was something wrong with the tailless Saiyan; his eyes had become dark, stormy, and brooding. Sighing, Raditz stood and – gently shaking Bardock off of his arm – walked over and sat in the seat next to Goku. Out of the corner of his eyes, Goku glanced at Raditz.

"Is something troubling you?" Goku asked. Raditz almost laughed at the irony of the words, but he scowled instead.

"No. There's something troubling _you_, however, and you refuse to speak of it!" Raditz hissed, leaning closer to his brother. He knew that he sounded like a massive hypocrite, but Goku didn't know that. Everyone silently observed the two brothers staring at each other, but nobody moved. Raditz and Goku weren't trying to rip each other's throats out… yet. Goku looked away from his brother after a while before sighing.

"I feel like something happened up at the Lookout," he finally admitted, sounding aggravated. Raditz frowned and cocked his head to the side.

"Lookout?" he asked. Goku nodded.

"Yeah… it's where the Earth's Guardian lives," the younger warrior explained. Gohan walked over as he heard Goku's words, and leaned on the back of Raditz's chair as he looked over at his father. He seemed concerned about Goku's behaviour.

"Dad," he said, getting Goku's attention, "If you need to go, I'll pilot the jet." Raditz looked back at his nephew, utterly confused. But he said nothing as Goku stood up and gave his seat up to Gohan. As Gohan sat down, Goku placed two of his fingers to his forehead and disappeared. Raditz shook his head, bewildered. He'd never, _ever_, get over Instant Transmission. Not even if he learned it himself. Raditz leaned back in his chair as Gohan said, "Alright, we should be nearing Capsule Corp." He sighed as he looked out of the front window and into the sky. It was a beautiful day, and the sun was shining brightly, but Raditz couldn't help but feel that there was something amiss.

"I feel it too, Raditz," Bardock said suddenly, even though nobody had said anything. The stares he received weren't entirely unjustified, and Bardock ducked his head and smiled sheepishly. "I really have to learn to stop answering peoples' thoughts, rather than their words," he said, in a sort-of apology. Raditz sighed as he looked back at his father.

"Get out of my head," he said, sounding very bitter. Bardock frowned.

"I didn't mean it, Raditz," he said, curious about his son's bitter tone. But before he could say anything else, Bulma stood up and walked over to Gohan. He looked up at her and smiled, but his smile dropped as he saw her expression. "Bulma?" he asked.

"We have to land; there's a problem at West City, and nobody is allowed in," she said, sounding a bit worried – no doubt about her parents. Gohan nodded, and Bardock's team looked at their sort-of panicked leader. He shrugged, not knowing what was going on. Fasha grimaced, and Chi-Chi scowled at Bardock.

"I thought you could read minds!" she said angrily to him. Everyone else nodded.

Bardock looked miffed. "I can't do it all the time; I have very limited control over it," he said, and then huffed and looked away from his daughter in law. Chi-Chi sighed as the jet began to head down to a clearing. As they landed, Bardock froze and went blank, slumping forward as he did so.

"D-dad?!" Raditz cried as he stood and ran over to his father. His team was already trying to get him to respond, and King Vegeta and Nappa were looking on worriedly. Raditz knelt down in front of Bardock and placed his hand on the Saiyan's shoulder, shaking him gently, but Bardock didn't move a muscle. Tora, in a state of panic, didn't know what to do, and could only sit there as Goten crawled over and looked up at Raditz.

"Uncle Raditz, what's wrong with Grandpa?" he asked. His voice was shaky, and Raditz shrugged.

"I don't know, Goten," Raditz choked, "I really don't!" His voice was panicked. But then, Bardock came back to life abruptly, shaking his head. He put his hand to his forehead and leaned back against the side of the jet, groaning. Raditz cocked his head to the side, his brow furrowed. "Dad, are you…" He trailed off as Bardock closed his eyes.

"I just saw something that I didn't like," he groaned as Raditz put his arm around his father's shoulder, sitting down next to him. Bardock leant his head against his son's shoulder. Frightened, Raditz shot Tora and Fasha a look, but all they could do was shrug, as they didn't understand and they didn't really know what was going on. Gohan stood as he turned the jet off then, and walked over to the group that was clustered around Bardock worriedly.

"What happened?" he asked, looking at Raditz. The Saiyan warrior summarised what had happened, and Gohan nodded. He turned and walked over to the door. "Well, I'm going to see what the problem is," he said as he moved to open the door. But before he could, with lightning-fast speed, Bardock moved and gripped Gohan's wrist extremely tightly, causing pain. "Yowch!" Gohan cried, trying to jerk his wrist out of Bardock's tight grip, but to no avail. Bardock would not let go.

"You have to help them. They're in danger," Bardock whispered abruptly. His voice sounded so dark and ominous, and it made Raditz shiver involuntarily. Bardock's words didn't make a whole heap of sense, either, and Raditz gently wrapped his fingers around his father's wrist. Bardock looked up at him, his eyes twinkling with… fear?

"Father, let Gohan go," Raditz whispered gently, and after a few tense moments, Bardock released Gohan's wrist. Gohan rubbed the skin on his arm; it felt like it was burning and itching.

"Can you tell me what that was about?" Gohan asked, shaken. Everyone looked at Bardock, but he diverted his attention at Gohan and his eyes flashed dangerously.

"Let's just say… this might be our toughest fight ever."


	19. Chapter 19

As he landed, Goku looked around at the Lookout, shocked and horrified. It was absolutely trashed, and Dende and Mr Popo were nowhere to be seen. Usually Dende was looking down at the Earth, and Mr Popo was usually… doing whatever Mr Popo did (which Goku didn't want to know about). But they weren't around, making Goku frown. It was strange, looking around at the deserted Lookout; he could have sworn that he'd sensed a presence here only moments ago.

"Dende?" he called as he walked into the semi-intact living area of the Lookout. Frowning, he walked past many rooms with their doors askew, and he saw that dishes were smashed and everything was out-of-place. "Mr Popo?" he shouted as he walked back into the main foyer of the Lookout's living area. There was no response from either the genie or the young Namek. Walking around the complex, searching in every room, Goku found no trace of either of the two. He walked back outside and sighed as he looked around. "I guess I should… huh?" Goku whipped around as he heard something that vaguely sounded like footfalls. His dark eyes scanned the area, and he took a few steps backwards, preparing to fly down to Korin's Place so that he could check on Korin and Yajirobe.

_Get out of here!_ Goku's internal voice screamed at him, warning him about something, but Goku didn't know why… and that was when _Piccolo_ attacked him?! Jumping out of the way of a punch, Goku felt panic shoot through him. He'd believed Piccolo to be back at the jet… but what if it wasn't the real Piccolo that was with the others? What if it was a fake, a doppelganger?

"Piccolo, it's me, Goku!" the Saiyan warrior cried as he continually dodged Piccolo's attacks. But then, Goku saw that something was amiss; Piccolo's eyes were blood-red, with no irises or pupils. He swallowed his fear as he dodged a kick. He realised that Piccolo had been possessed by whatever had possessed the thought-to-be-dead changeling, Frieza.

Piccolo ignored Goku's pleas as he smashed his fist into the Saiyan's cheek. The force behind the punch was enough to send Goku flying backwards into a few palm trees. They snapped instantly, all but one, as he collapsed to the ground. Goku was startled. He was unsure how Piccolo could have done that, considering that Goku was a lot stronger than the Namekian. Suddenly, Piccolo flew quickly towards Goku, and he used Instant Transmission to escape a kick that snapped the palm tree he was slumped against. As soon as he reappeared, Goku suppressed his energy level and hid behind the Lookout complex, pressing his back against the wall. He was gasping for breath, and he could sense that Piccolo was heading right for him. This was not good; the Saiyan knew that if he stayed where he was, he would be caught, and that would mean a fight. Goku wanted to avoid a confrontation, but he knew that if he had no choice…

Suddenly, a cry of pain emanated from Piccolo, and there was a thump as something slammed into the ground. Goku inhaled sharply as he peeked out from behind the complex wall, only to see a long haired man wearing Saiyan battle armour standing over the collapsed green body of Piccolo. Breathing a sigh of relief, Goku walked out and revealed himself to Raditz. Goku smiled as he walked over.

"I thought you'd be here," Raditz mused as Goku stopped a metre in front of his brother. Goku nodded and looked down at Piccolo, his smile changing to a frown as he observed the unconscious Namekian.

"How'd you find me?" Goku asked. "You can't sense energy like I can," he said, without looking up. Raditz shrugged.

"Dad told me that you'd be here," this got Goku's attention, "When we went outside to investigate whatever Dad saw, we saw a young Namek standing there… and then Piccolo just disappeared into nothing," Raditz explained as he frowned and looked down at the body. Goku nodded and squatted down next to Piccolo, proceeding to poke the Namek's arm as Raditz spoke. "The Piccolo with us must have been a doppelganger…" He trailed off as Piccolo began to cough. Both warriors steeled themselves, but then something gelatinous floated out of Piccolo's mouth. The two Saiyans watched it and immediately tried to catch it, but it flew off far too fast for even Raditz to follow.

"Dammit!" Goku hissed.

Raditz nodded. "Indeed." As he looked back down at Piccolo, the Namekian groaned. He was still clearly unconscious, but he was alive, at the very least. Goku sighed as he looked up at his brother.

"I need to go to Korin's Place," he said, and then looked at Piccolo, "We should take Piccolo with us."

"Okay," Raditz said, picking up the unconscious Namekian and flying into the air. Goku ran into the complex briefly, and Raditz waited for three minutes before Goku came back out with some food. Rolling his eyes, Raditz followed Goku as the latter flew into the air and down to Korin's Tower. As they flew down, Goku saw that Korin and Yajirobe seemed to be alright, so neither Saiyan stayed too long. They were given a pouch of Senzu Beans, and then they flew off towards the clearing where the Saiyans and Z-Fighters were…

Not knowing that their greatest enemy yet would be Goku.


	20. Chapter 20

For some bizarre reason, Bardock didn't feel safe.

It had been a few hours since his sons had returned with a bag of Senzu Beans and an unconscious Piccolo in tow (much to the confusion of everyone). Yet, Bardock had – and still could – sense that there was something wrong with his youngest cub. He couldn't exactly sense what the problem was, nor could he see it, but his earlier vision had told him that Goku was 'sick' and he would attack them soon. Bardock shivered involuntarily. He wasn't ready to fight Goku. Truth be told, even though he'd had all of this time, he still would never, _ever_, be ready to do battle with either of his sons. Years ago, he would have told himself differently.

"Father?" Raditz asked as he walked over to Bardock, "You seem edgy; are you alright?" His voice was a hushed whisper, and Bardock – who was squatting at the edge of the clearing the jet had landed in – looked up at his oldest son. Bardock shook his head and sighed. He was thinking about his vision, yes, but he was also thinking about something else. He still couldn't believe that, after all this time in Hell, Raditz was beginning to come out of his depression. Bardock had never been able to help Raditz, and eventually he'd given up, only for Goku to pull Raditz out of his depression with a few simple words of forgiveness! It made Bardock feel useless, really.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he lied. Raditz sighed as he crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at his father. Bardock frowned, wondering why he'd lied in the first place. Raditz could always tell when Bardock was lying, and it annoyed Bardock because he could never get away with telling even the smallest of lies.

"Liar," Raditz huffed as he sat down next to his father, looking back at the others. Dende – the young Guardian of Earth – was speaking to Goku in a worried, hushed tone, and Mr Popo – the genie who attended to Dende – was standing nearby with an expression of intense worry on his face. Raditz sighed as he looked away from them. His eyes fixed on Vegeta, and he immediately saw that the Saiyan prince was edgy. He could obviously tell that there was something amiss, but his expression told Raditz – and Bardock, as he looked over at Vegeta – that he couldn't tell exactly _what_. And it was flustering him; even his wife couldn't get him to relax. "I should probably try to ease his mind," Raditz murmured as he stood. Bardock looked up at his son, who was frowning.

"Why?" he asked. Raditz shrugged.

"He just… he looks worried."

"That he does," King Vegeta randomly said from behind the two Saiyans. Both flinched and looked behind them, only to see him leaning against a tree and looking very relaxed. Nappa, however, looked just as edgy as Vegeta, and Raditz smiled sadly at the Saiyan general.

Suddenly, there was a loud scream, and Raditz just managed to catch Dende in his arms as the little Namek flew into his stomach. Bardock jumped to his feet, and King Vegeta tensed up. Nappa growled as he took up a battle stance and looked over at Goku. Chi-Chi screamed in terror, and her two sons jumped in front of her in a protective stance. Vegeta and Trunks took up a defensive position in front of Bulma, too, who looked even more terrified than Chi-Chi did. Goku turned then, and Raditz's heart stopped beating briefly as he got a good look at Goku's eyes.

They were blood red; no whites, no irises, no pupils.

They looked just like Frieza's eyes had, while Raditz and Goku had been on New Namek. Remembering that incident, Raditz's hand moved from his side to his upper torso, and he gingerly touched the place where his chest cavity had been ripped open to expose his beating heart.

"Dad, move!" Raditz screamed as Goku suddenly launched towards his father. Instead of taking his son's advice, however, Bardock powered up. His hair turned to gold and stuck up like he'd stuck his tail in an electric socket, and his eyes flashed to a vibrant green. It wasn't enough, however. Goku stretched out his fist as he flew, and it smashed into Bardock's nose. The sickening crunch of Bardock's nose breaking was audible, and blood spurted out, splashing onto Goku's knuckles. Bardock cried out as he was sent flying backwards, slammed into a tree, and collapsed. His hair and eyes became black again, and his hair returned to its normal untidy style.

"Bardock!" There was a collective cry from Bardock's team as they rushed towards their leader to see if they could assist him. Goku – or whatever he was now – wouldn't allow for that, however. In a bloodthirsty rage, he whipped around and kicked all four in the stomach in rapid succession. Tora managed to block most of the kick with his arm, but he was still defeated quickly. Goku suddenly grabbed at him, grabbing the front of his armour, as well as the skin underneath. Goku suddenly pulled, and there was a horrible ripping and tearing sound. A scream escaped from Tora's lips as blood splashed out, and Goku dropped the Saiyan on the ground, his eyes flashing dangerously. Raditz – who'd been watching, powerless to help – felt sickened, and he had to look away.

"Dad, stop!" Goten cried as he powered up to Super Saiyan and jumped forward, ignoring his brother's and mother's warnings. Gohan tried to grab Goten's foot, but missed and fell to the ground as Goku turned to his son and grinned evilly before smashing his fist into the seven-year-old's skull. Goten stopped dead in his tracks as his transformation wore out, and he collapsed to the ground, defeated. Ignoring his own warnings, Gohan powered up to Ultimate and leapt towards his father.

"Gohan!" Chi-Chi cried. She tried to grab Gohan's foot in a mimicry of Gohan's earlier action, but Eighteen grabbed her back and restrained her, all while holding Marron to her chest. The little girl was fearfully crying.

"Don't," Eighteen warned. "You will get hurt," she said as everyone watched Gohan battle it out with his father. He was holding his own against the powerful warrior, and seemed to be the only one that could possibly do so, other than Vegeta.

Gohan cried out as Goku grabbed his son's hair and slammed Gohan's head into his knee. Vegeta's eyes flashed briefly, seeing a momentary drop in guard that nobody else did.

_Everyone, listen to me,_ Vegeta telepathically said to everyone but Goku and Gohan. They all looked over at him as father and son continued to fight. _I saw a weakness that Kakarot usually keeps guarded. It's a dirty move, but…_ He trailed off as he watched Gohan get smashed in the face, before shaking his head and continuing, _it might be the only chance we have to win._

_What do you mean, Vegeta?_ King Vegeta asked his son carefully. Vegeta winced as Gohan took another painful-looking blow, and sighed.

_Kakarot is far stronger than I. None of us really stand a chance alone,_ Vegeta explained. King Vegeta didn't know what to say. He'd never really gotten over the fact that Goku – a low-class Saiyan – was stronger than Vegeta, who was a Saiyan elite.

_So what should we do?_ Raditz found himself asking, even though he didn't like where this was going. Vegeta flinched again, and turned his head from the battle that Gohan was obviously losing.

_I need you guys to back me up and distract Kakarot,_ Vegeta said, and Krillin walked over to the Saiyan, even though he feared Vegeta immensely. He cocked his head to the side as they all heard a cry of agony from Gohan.

"What are you planning?" Krillin asked. Vegeta smirked as he looked into Krillin's eyes.

"Let's just say that if this doesn't cripple him, he's the luckiest Saiyan alive."


	21. Chapter 21

The group of warriors all steeled themselves as they prepared to attack. Their plan was simple: distract Goku at all costs and get him to drop his guard. That would be when Vegeta would strike, and hopefully it would knock the possessed Saiyan warrior out of commission. But Vegeta knew that he only had one chance to do this. If he failed, then everyone was going to be killed.

"Are you ready?" Vegeta asked everyone. They all nodded as they looked at the battle before them. Gohan was struggling to fend his crazed father off, but still they waited. They had to wait for the perfect opportunity, even though it was killing Gohan slowly. Vegeta felt a twinge of guilt, but he easily managed to shake it away. There was no time for emotions in such a battle. Suddenly, an opening presented itself, and Vegeta's eyes flashed as he ordered, "NOW!" As one, all of those capable of fighting – Fasha, Shugesh, Borgos, King Vegeta, Raditz, Nappa, Tien, Yamcha, Krillin, Eighteen, Trunks and Vegeta – rushed forwards. Bardock was out of commission because he was still recovering from the shock of being hit so hard, and Chi-Chi and Bulma were attending to Tora and Goten.

"Yah!" Trunks cried as he slammed his tiny little fist into Goku's cheek, which knocked the Saiyan off-balance, providing a better chance to attack and allowing Gohan time to recover. Goku snarled as he regained his balance, but by then, it was too late for him to retaliate. Vegeta pushed himself off of the ground using his ki, and delivered a swift kick to the sweet spot, the only place that the prince was certain would have an effect.

A horrible scream emanated from Goku's throat, and Vegeta felt smug satisfaction as Goku collapsed to the ground, screaming in what could only be called agony. Still, nobody let their guard down. They all knew that Goku could get up at any minute. But he never did. Instead, he started to cough, and a gelatinous blob fell to the ground. Goku's eyes returned to their normal colour of black, and the whites of his eyes became discernible from his black pupils. Raditz walked over and picked the blob up, hearing an audible squeak as he cupped his hands around it. It was clearly weakened, as it appeared to be trying to float, but it was failing miserably.

"That's the cause of all of our problems?" Vegeta scowled as he walked over with a containment device and looked at the blob in Raditz's hands. The long-haired warrior nodded as he placed the blob into the device that Vegeta gave him. The Saiyan prince pressed a button on the side of the containment device. It flew up into the air and turned into a Dyno-Cap before landing back in Vegeta's hand.

"Wha… Where… am I?" Everyone suddenly heard Goku say as he looked up at Raditz and Vegeta. Tears were forming in the corners of his eyes, and he looked like he was in pain, but everyone could see that he'd returned to the gentle man he usually was. Raditz knelt down as Goku tried to struggle to his feet, and gently supported his brother as Bardock, Tora, Goten, Piccolo, Bulma, Chi-Chi, Dende, and Mr Popo joined the band of warriors that were standing behind Raditz and Vegeta.

Raditz laughed. "You're in the clearing," he said as Goku looked around. Raditz then turned to Bardock, Goten and Tora, and his eyes widened as he saw that they were perfectly fine. The scar on Bardock's cheek was healed again, and his nose was no longer broken. Goten had no wounds on his person, even though he'd received a nasty blow to the head. But it was Tora that shocked Raditz the most. Tora had received the same injury he had on New Namek… and it had taken a wish from Porunga to heal him… but Tora was fine! Raditz didn't know what to think, and Tora obviously noticed the young warrior's confusion, because he laughed.

"Don't be shocked, Raditz! Dende here healed me, as well as Bardock and Goten," he said cheerfully, grinning. Raditz blinked in shock. He hadn't expected the Earth's Guardian to be able to heal people! But, then again, there was nothing quite expectable with the Z-Fighters around…

Bulma's phone chimed then; she pulled it out of her bra (much to the disgruntlement of Vegeta) and looked at it, before her face lit up with a magnificent smile. Everyone looked curiously at her, and – if even possible – her smile widened.

"We can go to West City now," she said. Vegeta cracked the tiniest of smiles as Goten and Trunks cheered and hi-fived each other. Goku sighed as Raditz led his brother over to the jet, and King Vegeta walked over to Vegeta. The Saiyan prince looked up at his father, and both royal Saiyans stood there in silence for a few minutes before King Vegeta spoke.

"Good thinking, son," he said appreciatively. Vegeta shrugged nonchalantly and walked off, and King Vegeta laughed as he followed after his son, his cape billowing in the wind. They all walked over to the jet, and Krillin pushed the button to open it as he grinned at the weakened Goku. Goku, in response to the unsaid joke, poked his tongue out at his best friend. Raditz shook his head.

_They're just like Dad and Tora…_ he mused silently to himself as he helped Goku up the ramp that led to the inside of the jet. Goku sat down next to his family, but before Raditz could move away, Goku grabbed the older Saiyan's tail gently. Raditz looked down at his little brother, one eyebrow raised and his head cocked to the side. "Yes?" he asked, and Goku's smile widened.

"Sit." It wasn't a question; it was an order. Raditz sighed audibly as he complied, and soon enough, Bardock sat next to his oldest cub and smiled. Goku grinned too as everyone finally took a seat in the jet, save for Dende, Mr Popo, and the _real_ Piccolo, who said their goodbyes and departed for the Lookout, which was in desperate need for repairs. "To Capsule Corp.!" Goku said loudly… but not loudly enough to cover the rumblings of the Saiyans' stomachs. Each one of them clutched their stomachs and looked around sheepishly, and everyone else laughed in good humour. Raditz smiled, and Bardock and Tora joined in with the laughter. Fasha, Shugesh, Borgos, King Vegeta, Nappa, Goku and Vegeta all blushed as they smiled.

Saiyan appetites were ridiculous…

Bulma sat in the jet's driver's seat then, and the jet took off. Bulma expertly turned it in a manoeuvre that seemed impossible to pull off in such a large vehicle, but she didn't crash into anything and they continued on their way to West City. Vegeta strode over to the Saiyans then – they were all sitting relatively close by – and looked over at his father. King Vegeta saw that Vegeta wanted to ask a question.

"What is wrong, Vegeta?" he said. Vegeta sighed.

"I want to know what you plan to do now," he said. His words didn't shock the Saiyans, but they definitely shocked everyone else. Goten looked sadly up at Raditz, who acknowledged him with a slight nod.

"Can't they stay on Earth?" Bulma asked. It wasn't Vegeta who gave an answer, however; it was King Vegeta.

"No. We cannot." The small group of Saiyans looked at their leader, a bit uncertain, but they were all sure that he had some sort of idea that none of them knew about.

"Why not, sir?" Nappa questioned. King Vegeta sighed.

"Because… we – no, _I_ – need to get back to the others. The Saiyans need their leader," he said. Everyone realised the truth behind his words, especially Vegeta. As their prince, Vegeta knew that his father was the one thing that kept the Saiyans together. If there wasn't a king, there probably wouldn't ever have been a war. _And_, Vegeta thought, _I would never have met Bulma._

"I know what we can do," Bulma said suddenly. Everyone looked over at her quizzically, and Bardock cocked his head to the side. Bulma had an expression of fierceness, but she was also smiling. Vegeta squinted at his wife, trying to read the human woman's mind, but it was Bardock who actually _did_ read the woman's thoughts.

"That's a good idea," he said… which earned him more strange looks and a smack on the back of the head, courtesy of Raditz. He laughed, and Bulma smiled back at him. "Ow! Hey!" he said, tears welling up in the corner of his eyes as Raditz sighed. "I didn't mean it!" he exclaimed, and Raditz rolled his eyes.

"Sure, sure," he said jokily. Bardock shot the young warrior an evil look before turning to Bulma.

"So, do you wanna tell everyone else your plan? Or do I have to?" Bardock said to Bulma. The human woman flicked the auto-pilot switch for the jet on, and unbuckled her seatbelt. She stood, strode over, and promptly sat next to Vegeta, who edged away jokingly in mock disgust. Bulma laughed as she slung her arm over Vegeta's shoulders – earning a real look of disgust this time.

"Well, I was thinking that, in a year's time, we could gather the Dragon Balls again," she said, and everyone began to wonder where this was going. "Then, when we've gathered them, we could wish for Planet Vegeta to be recreated, and then we could wish the rest of your race back." This last part was said to King Vegeta, whose eyes had widened with amazement. Bulma laughed at his expression.

"Granted, of course, they don't run around killing entire planetary populations," Vegeta grumbled. King Vegeta looked over at his son.

"I swear on the Saiyan crest that we will not," he said formally, surprising Vegeta, especially when he placed his hand on the crest that was emblazoned onto his chestplate. Shrugging, King Vegeta elaborated, "Besides, I think I have more paperwork to catch up on than you can poke a spiky stick at." He grimaced as he thought back to his paperwork, and everyone laughed as they all began to chatter about different subjects. King Vegeta spoke to his family, while Vegeta tried to apologise to Nappa (which was, surprisingly, successful). Bardock and Raditz listened to Goten babble on about nonsensical topics, but they didn't mind. Bardock's team playfully bickered, and everyone else just watched and smiled as they flew steadily towards West City…


	22. Epilogue

The few Saiyans that had fought alongside the Z-Fighters smiled and waved as they stood at the window of the huge spaceship that had been built for them. It had been just over a year since the events of their revival, and since then, the rest of the Saiyans – and their home planet – had been revived. And now, the Saiyan army – minus Goku and Vegeta – were departing.

Vegeta was slightly sad to see his father go. If there was anyone he respected more than Goku (yes, he did respect Goku, but the proud Saiyan would never admit it), it was his father. His respect for the king was also the reason Vegeta had always kept his title of 'prince,' even though he was – or, rather, had been – one of the few remaining Saiyans. Vegeta sighed as he watched the ship disappear into the deep abyss of space.

Goku was also sad to see them go. He and his family had gotten to know their extended family and Goten's reaction to his uncle and grandfather leaving had been… quite abrupt, really. He'd cried and hugged both of them tightly – a little too tightly; they'd barely been able to breathe – and had been dragged away by Chi-Chi. Now, he wouldn't come out of the main Capsule Corporation building.

High in the atmosphere, Raditz sighed. He had his hand touching the glass of the window gently, and he felt a twinge of regret. Bardock placed his hand gently on his son's shoulder and squeezed it, making Raditz look at the older warrior. Both stood there in silence for a while before Bardock shook his head.

"Raditz, come on," he said as his hand fell from Raditz's shoulder and he walked towards the door. Raditz followed without hesitation, and quickly caught up to Bardock. The two warriors walked through the hallways wordlessly, until Bardock looked at Raditz and said, "You're bothered by something." The statement caught Raditz off-guard; Bardock usually didn't pick up on his son's cues, so this was rare. But instead of denying the fact, Raditz inclined his head slightly. Bardock smiled sadly. "Was it Goten's reaction?" he asked softly as both warriors came to a standstill.

"Yes… and no," Raditz murmured. Bardock cocked his head to the side.

"What do you mean?" the older warrior asked, his tail unwrapping itself from his waist and swishing gently. Raditz shook his head.

"I don't know, Dad. I mean, Goten… he shouldn't have been that upset. He should have grown so attached, and yet…" Trailing off, Raditz looked out of a small circular window and observed the stars as they sped past. Bardock sighed as Raditz continued, "Look, I don't know why this is bothering me so much. It just… _is_."

"I understand, kid, I understand," Bardock assured his son with a small smile. "Now, let's go find my team and _party_!" he said, his attitude changing from stoic-warrior to idiotic-alcoholic-partier. Raditz laughed as Bardock threw his arms into the air and ran off down the hallways, before giving chase, wanting to make sure his father didn't get too drunk…

Meanwhile, King Vegeta stood alone in the makeshift throne room. Not even Nappa, his closest advisor, was accompanying him, and that was how he wanted it. He sighed as he looked in the direction of Earth, even though he could no longer see it. He smiled as he remembered the conversations he and Vegeta had had. They were conversations that he knew he should have had with Vegeta years ago. The memories he would take away from this would stay with him forever, until he dropped dead… or was killed. Either or.

"Sire?" a Saiyan asked tentatively, and King Vegeta turned his head to the side so that he could see the Saiyan.

Smiling, he asked, "Yes?" The Saiyan saluted his king in the typical way – by bowing with one arm placed over the chest, the hand on the heart – before straightening.

"It will take approximate three days to travel to Planet Vegeta, sir," the Saiyan said, and King Vegeta smiled. This was good news; soon the Saiyans would be at home again at last. Planet Vegeta would never be able to compare to the beauty of the original Saiyan home planet, but it had been King Vegeta's home ever since he'd been a boy. The Saiyans had fought tooth-and-nail for the planet, and King Vegeta hadn't let the victory go to waste.

"Very good, soldier. You are dismissed," King Vegeta said with a wave of his hand. The Saiyan bowed again and turned on his heel as the door opened. As he walked out, the door slid closed behind him, and King Vegeta sighed as he looked back to the starry skies. With a smile, he said, "Thank you, my son, for giving the Saiyans a new future."


End file.
